‘Delighted’ developers hail ‘most successful February’ for real estate in Malta’s history

The Malta Development Association (MDA) is “delighted” with an “unprecedented surge” in the property market for February 2024, which it says marks the month as “the most successful February in the Malta’s recorded history.”

The statement, issued on Tuesday, is the latest monthly update from the MDA, which has as of late been pre-empting the National Statistics Office (NSO) official release with its own collection of data, which it says is collected from various sources and includes both residential and commercial property.

The MDA said that promise of sale agreements have experienced a “commendable increase”, rising from 1,318 in February 2023 to 1,420 in February 2024, reflecting an eight per cent growth.

“This upward trajectory is further underscored by a substantial nine per cent increase in revenue, soaring from €380,599,136 in the previous year to €416,571,905,” it said.

The association continued: “This remarkable achievement builds on the positive momentum observed in January 2024, which was previously celebrated as the best January on record for Malta’s property sector.”

However, the MDA made no mention of final deeds of sale, perhaps indicative of a relative slowdown when it comes to this bottom-line metric. For January 2024, the NSO stated that residential property sales were down 2.8 per cent by value and 0.1 per cent by volume.

Referring to its long-standing bugbear of overbearing but underperforming regulation, the MDA once again urged Government to streamline processes and reduce bureaucratic hurdles to “ensure that the remarkable growth we’ve seen is not hampered by red tape.”

It argued that efforts to simplify administrative procedures “will serve as a catalyst for continued investment and development within the property sector, helping to maintain and surpass the record-setting performance we celebrate today.”