Final deeds of sale drop by nearly a fifth in April compared to previous year

The property market in April 2023 may be entering a sluggish period, as the number of final deeds of sale dropped by nearly 20 per cent compared to the same month last year, despite an overall increase in value, and an increase in promise of sale agreements.

It is of note that, unlike previous months, the Malta Developers Association (MDA) did not release their own figures ahead of the National Statistics Office (NSO).

In April (last month) this newsroom revealed that there was an inconsistency between the numbers presented by the NSO and the MDA.

BusinessNow.mt has reached out to the MDA’s chairperson Michael Stivala for a comment as to why the MDA did not publish their figures ahead of the NSO in April, however at the time of writing no explanation was provided.

The number of final deeds of sale decreased by 18.2 per cent in April compared to the previous year, reaching a total of 918. However, despite this significant drop in quantity, there was a positive development in terms of the overall value of the deeds, which increased by 9.4 per cent to a total of €260.6 million

Individual buyers were responsible for 92.4 per cent of the total number of deeds, with companies being responsible for the rest. The lowest number of deeds was recorded in the Western Region and Gozo, collectively capturing 21 per cent of the sum total.

Meanwhile, the number of promise of sale agreements increased by 4.4 per cent year on year, with a total of 1,061 registered. Individual potential buyers accounted for 92.7 per cent of the agreements, with the rest involving companies.

The largest number of promise of sale agreements was once again located in the Northern Region and the Northern Harbour Region, capturing 53.7 per cent of all agreements for residential property.