If you feel like Malta has become one huge construction site, it is with good reason: the Planning Authority has approved 52,448 properties in the past five years, according to published figures.

And there is still no end in sight with only 26,827 properties already built.

The figure of 52,448 only applies until the end of 2018.

Assuming that the number of permits in 2019 remains the same as the previous year, a further 9,500 properties would have been approved by now.

And there is no indication that the boom has slowed down.

Between 2017 and 2018, the number of permits shot up by 48%, and if that growth has continued into this year, then the number of new property permits by the end of the year could add as many as 28,300 units to the total.

This would bring the total number of new properties up to 80,000.

Just 26,827 have been built

The figure takes into account the number of permits as well as the net increase in units. For example, if a villa is replaced by six flats, it would mean a net increase of five units.

This multiplier effect has been more noticeable in recent years, with 2.7 properties replacing an existing one in 2015, rising to 3.7 by 2018.

The figure of 52,448 has to be taken in the context of an increase in population of 36,000 by 2017, with the figures for 2018 due to be released within two weeks.

If this figure alone were not an eye-opener, then consider that the Planning Authority has no indication of how many of them are already built.

Once a permit is in hand, the owner/developer is given five years in which to complete it. Which leads to the next question: how many of those 52,448 properties have actually been completed, and how many of them are yet to start?

The only indication comes from the number of new Water Services connections, which installed 26,827 water meters between 2014 and 2018, with a further 3,954 this year, according to a spokesman.

In the worst case scenario given above, that means that there could still be another 50,000 projects still under construction or yet to be started.

The Central Bank last February reported that there were 223,850 residential units in 2011, as per the last census, which had gone up to 250,000 by 2018.

The 2011 census had found 41,232 vacant homes (once seasonal or second homes were deducted).