January figures for property sales and promise of sale agreements show that there is no slowdown in the property market, the Malta Developers Association said on Wednesday.
The MDA 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.
Property collectively valued at almost €330 million - €328,438,582 - was sold last month, it said. That was the highest January amount in the last seven years.
Official statistics about property transactions in January are due to be published by the National Statistics Office on February 9.
The MDA statement said its January figures gave the lie to claims that Malta's property sector was slowing down.
Figures published by the NSO last month indicated a dramatic slowdown in promise of sale agreements last December when compared to 12 months prior.
NSO statistics for December showed that deeds of sale were down 28.8 per cent last December while promises of sale dropped by a whopping 55.9 per cent. The value of final deeds that month totalled €225.1 million, 28.5 per cent lower than in December 2021.
Concerns about the property market were further amplified by an analysis released by consultancy group KPMG last month, 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".
But the MDA remains bullish about the sector and its prospects.
The declines registered last December when compared to December 2021 were misleading, it said, as the last month of 2021 marked the end of government COVID-related incentives for the property market.
That led to a flood of property deals, distorting figures for that month. In fact, it said, promise of sale agreements in January 2022 were significantly lower than average.
“The figures for December 2022 compare favourably with December 2020, while the January 2023 figures are as strong as ever," the MDA said.
“This confirms that the property market is still the preferred point of investment for families and businesses, and keeps going from strength to strength despite flawed analysis by some who are clearly detached from market realities."
Association president Michael Stivala told Times of Malta that the MDA is seeing no signs of a slowdown so far.
"It's a challenging year, but if we continue to work with the government I think it can be a positive one for the sector," he said.