MDA reports record sales in March driven by demand for agricultural land

Malta Developers Association (MDA) has announced record property sales figures for March, driven by demand for agricultural land for recreational purposes, in addition to bigger dwellings with outside space and gardens, it says.

Preliminary data, according to the association, shows that the number of promise of sale agreements registered with the tax authorities reached 2,108, with a value of €487 million. Compared with March 2020, when the pandemic first hit, this is a month-on-month increase of 87 per cent.

During March 2021, the number of registered promises of sale and the value of said agreements were both at their highest since January 2017. 

The organisation says that aside from increased demand for agricultural land, there is also an increased demand from the general public for property in Gozo. This, the MDA says, “may be a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Announcing the record figures, the MDA notes the strength of property investments as “by far the most solid investment available” on Malta. It says that even though the economy has been hit in March by “a heavy political climate” and “high-profile prosecutions”, people are still investing in property.

Looking to the future, the MDA stresses the need, that as Malta reopens and the Government lifts restrictions, it must make sure that the "authorities and institutions related to this buoyant factor become more efficient and ensure consistency”.

“This is crucial towards a sustainable future in the property market”, it says.

The announcement comes after a year in which the property market in Malta seemed to have escaped the damage dealt to other industries by the pandemic.

In 2020, €3 billion in property sales were announced by the MDA, matching results obtained in 2019.

The wider property and construction industry in Malta seems to have remained resistant to pandemic strains.

Indeed, over 2020, the construction industry in Malta was the only one in the EU that did not contract, instead, it grew in every quarter of the year.