August 2024 sees 3.4% drop in final deeds of sale for residential properties

In August, final deeds of sale for residential properties in Malta amounted to 957, marking a decrease of 3.4 per cent when compared to August 2023.

Figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) indicated the provisional data on residential property sale transactions based on the date of registration with the tax authority.

Here, final deeds of sale refer to documents that officially transfer ownership of a property from the seller to the buyer.

Overall, the value of these deeds totalled €264.4 million, reflecting a 5.1 per cent decrease when compared to the corresponding value recorded in August 2023.

During the month under review, 886 final deeds of sale, representing 92.6 per cent, were executed by individual buyers (households), with companies accounting for nearly all of the remaining deeds.

The value of the deeds involving individual buyers amounted to €229.3 million, equivalent to 86.7 per cent of the total value.

In August, the highest number of final deeds of sale were registered in the Northern Harbour and the Northern District with a total of 256 and 204 deeds, respectively.

The localities with the highest numbers of final deeds of sale were St Paul’s Bay (86), Mosta (46), Birkirkara (39), Fgura (39), and Sliema (34). Furthermore, the sum of agreements recorded in these localities accounted for 21.9 per cent of the total final deeds of sale registered during the month.

Conversely, the lowest numbers were registered in the Western and the Southeastern Districts at 101 and 112 deeds, respectively.

Additionally, in August the number of properties transacted in the final deeds of sale was equivalent to 1,023. Among these transactions, apartments and garages made up the largest proportions. Specifically, apartments represented 35.8 per cent of the total transactions, with 366 units sold, while garages constituted 23.7 per cent 242 units sold.

On the other hand, last month 1,000 promise of sale agreements were registered. In contrast with the final deeds of sale, promise of sale agreements registered an increase of 3.3 per cent over the same period last year.

Individual potential buyers accounted for 92.4 per cent of the agreements, while the rest primarily involved companies.

Again, the largest share of promise of sale agreements were registered in the Norther Harbour district (277) and the Northern district (181).

St Paul’s Bay was once again the most popular choice (59), followed by Birkirkara (57), and Maraskala (46). The sum of agreements recorded in these localities corresponded to 16.2 per cent of the total promise of sale agreements registered during August 2024.

The districts with the lowest agreements were noted in the Western (99), and the Gozo and Comino districts (122).