Property collectively valued at over €410 million was sold last month, the Malta Developers Association said on Monday, adding that this showed that real estate was the investment of choice of most Maltese families.

In a statement, signed by president Michael Stivala, the MDA said the latest figures for real estate in March showed further growth in the sector, with the number of promises of sale increasing by 16 per cent and seven per cent in value.

“This was the best-ever March recorded with the exception of 2021 when Covid recovery measures for the sector were being phased out,” the association said.

These figures come after more record-breaking months and prove that the interpretation given by some quarters that the real estate sector was facing a crisis, “was simply the result of a superficial analysis fraught with basic errors of interpretation of data”, the MDA said.

“This data confirms that real estate is the investment of choice of most Maltese families and the actual increase in the number of promises of sale shows that this is the most accessible means for such investment which continues to historically increase in value," he said. 

Despite the fact the sector attracts adverse media attention, Stivala said it is where Maltese families choose to safeguard and increase their savings. 

Concerns about the property market were amplified by an analysis released by consultancy group KPMG in January, which noted that promise-of-sale agreements were down 22% last year and said in a January economic outlook report for Malta this was of "some concern".

This was rubbished by the MDA which said that according to its own data, there were 1,247 promise of sale agreements registered in January. This was the second-highest number for January in the past seven years, it said.