Malta house price increase outstrips EU levels while rent rise more muted

Malta’s house prices are increasing at a significantly steeper rate than the EU average, while rent price trends are diverging at a lesser level, according to new data released by the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

According to the figures, covering the second quarter of 2021, Maltese house prices have increased by 47.58 per cent, when compared to the 2015 baseline.

This figure is significantly above the 34.36 per cent average recorded across the European Union.

On the other hand, rent prices in Malta have risen at a rate much more consistent with the EU average, climbing by 9.66 per cent compared to the EU average of 8.65 per cent in Q2.

The data shows that across Europe, house prices are rising at a dramatic rate, with prices since 2010 doubling in three European countries: Estonia, Luxembourg and Hungary.

It is notable that in the vast majority of countries across the EU, house price trends seem to have become detached from rent. This was the case in 18 EU Member States.

House prices increased in 23 EU countries and decreased in four, whereas rent prices increased in 25 EU nations, decreasing in only two.

The highest rent raises compared to 2010 levels were recorded in Estonia, where prices rose by 142 per cent, Lithuania (109 per cent) and Ireland (66 per cent).

The figures come as prices locally are in a period of transition. The pandemic seems to have forced people to realign their priorities regarding a residence, and many are moving from the country’s more densely populated areas to less populated regions like those in Gozo.

In recent reports by property market analysis firm Djar, Gozitan localities have been disproportionately represented among the places with the highest price increases.

According to the firm’s report for September, four of the five localities with the highest increases – namely Qala (up by 2.11 per cent in the month), Sannat (1.30 per cent), Xlendi (0.92 per cent), and Xaghra (0.69 per cent) – were in Gozo.

On the other hand, all five of the localities with the biggest decreases (Zebbug, Qrendi, Cospicua, Single and Valletta) were in Malta.