Promise of sale agreements continue to outpace final property sales in October

Promise of sale agreements signed during October once again outpaced final property sales, maintaining a trend observed throughout 2023 (except for January and August).

A total of 1,125 property sales were concluded during October 2023, a decrease of 324 deeds (or 22.4 per cent) when compared to those registered a year earlier.

The value of these final deeds of sale totalled €298.1 million, representing a decrease of 12.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding value recorded in October 2022.

Maltese real estate continues to be a largely non-corporate affair, with individual buyers accounting for 79.2 per cent of the total value of transactions. However, a closer look at the data shows that the corporate share may slowly be increasing.

In seven of the 10 months of the year so far, the share of corporations in the total value transacted was over 20 per cent.

This reflects a marked shift in the market, with corporations accounting for over 20 per cent of transacted value in only two of the preceding 24 months (i.e. in 2021 and 2022)

The Northern Harbour District remained the most popular in October, with a total of 329 final deeds. It was followed by the Northern District (215 deeds). At 84 and 143 deeds, the lowest numbers were recorded in the Western District and the Gozo and Comino District, respectively.

The highest numbers of final deeds of sale were recorded in the following localities: St Paul’s Bay (83), Birkirkara (53) and Marsaskala (51). The sum of agreements recorded in these localities corresponded to 16.6 per cent of the total final deeds of sale registered during October 2023.

Promise of sale agreements

Promise of sale agreements numbered 1,225, once again increasing over those registered in the same month a year prior, as has been the case for every month in 2023 so far.

However, the difference between 2022 and 2023 signings of promise of sale agreements reached its lowest level so far in October, with 2023 seeing just 28 more signings than 2022, an increase of 2.3 per cent.

Individual potential buyers (households) accounted for 1,117 (or 91.2 per cent) of these agreements, while the rest mainly involved companies.

The largest number of promise of sale agreements related to residential properties were registered in the Northern Harbour District with 352 agreements, followed by the Northern District with 237 agreements.

On the other hand, the lowest figures of promise of sale agreements were noted in the Western District, and the South Eastern District, at 125 and 160 agreements, respectively.

The highest numbers of promise of sale agreements were recorded in the following localities: St Paul’s Bay (104), Mosta (58) and Birkirkara (53). The sum of agreements recorded in these localities corresponded to 17.6 per cent of the total promise of sale agreements registered during October 2023.