Property sales were down by almost a fifth last month compared to April 2022 but promise of sale agreements were up by just over 4%. official data published on Wednesday shows.

The NSO said the number of final deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 918, an 18.2 per cent decrease when compared to April last year.

All monthly sales data this year showed a drop compared to last year, but the Malta Developers Association in March pushed back at talk of a slowdown. 

The value of the deeds last month totalled €260.6 million, an increase of 9.4 per cent when compared to April 2022.

Property sales this year have been generally lower than in 2022.

There were 848 final deeds of sale involving individual buyers (households), representing 92.4 per cent of the total, with companies accounting for virtually all the rest. The value of the deeds involving individual buyers (households) amounted to €216.0 million, equivalent to 82.9 per cent of the total value.

The highest number of final deeds of sale were recorded in St Paul's Bay (74), Birkirkara (44), Marsascala (43) and Mosta (37) The sum of contracts recorded in these localities corresponded to more than 21.0 per cent of the total final deeds of sale registered during April 2023.  The lowest numbers were recorded in the Western District and the Gozo and Comino.  

The biggest number of property sales are in St Paul's Bay.

Promise of sale agreements 

There were 1,061 promise of sale agreements last month, up 4.4% from April 2022.  Most related to residential properties in the Northern Harbour District with 305 agreements, followed by the Northern District with 223 agreements.  

Again, the highest numbers of sale agreements were in St Paul's Bay (108), Birkirkara (51), Mosta (47) and Marsascala (39) .