In 2020, 81% of Malta’s population lived in owned households, placing it among EU’s top 10

In 2020, 81 per cent of Malta’s population lived in a household owning their home, placing it nine percentage points above global EU numbers, figures by Eurostat show.

Malta placed number eight out of 26 EU Member States, with no data being available for Italy.

Perhaps unsurprisingly when considering relatively lower housing costs, the highest shares of ownership were observed in Romania, where 96 per cent of the population lived in a household that owned their home, followed by Slovakia at 92 per cent, and Hungary and Croatia, both clocking in at 91 per cent.

In all Member States, except for Germany, owning is most common. In Germany’s case, half of the population lived in a household owning their home and the other half in a rented home. The shares of homeownership were lowest also in Austria (55 per cent) and Denmark (59 per cent). 

Property market in Malta

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, data released last October by Eurostat reveals.

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.

Therefore, property is a major source of wealth for locals, many of who have seen the value of their properties increase over the years.

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.