‘Totally misguided’: Following January uptick MDA questions ‘flawed’ property market fears

The value of promise of sale agreements during the month of January 2023 was the second highest in the last seven years, according to a statement made on Facebook by Michael Stivala, president of the Malta Developers Association (MDA).  This is a stark contrast to the sentiment towards the property market when KPMG made it known that, promise of sale agreements during 2022 dropped by 22.1 per cent.

According to the MDA, there were 1,247 promises of sale agreements made during January 2023.

KPMG’s report had that that the drop in promise of sale agreements in 2022, represented an ongoing year-on-year decrease that had been ongoing since July 2021. The MDA reacted strongly, claiming this was normal market behaviour and pointed to the easing of COVID-19 incentives.

“These figures confirm that the analysis from some quarters based on a decrease year-on-year in December 2022 was totally misguided. As already stated by the MDA, December 2021 was an anomalous month as it marked the end of Government COVID-19-related incentives for the property market and thus led to a rush in the filing of promises of sale.  In fact, the following month, promises of sale filed were significantly less than usual,” read Mr Stivala’s statement.

The number of promise of sale agreements during January 2023 was as much as 11.2 per cent of the total number of agreements signed during the entire year of 2023. If this creates a trend, the property market could witness a rebound.

Mr Stivala added, “this confirms that the property market is still the preferred point of investment for families and businesses, and keeps going from strength to strength despite flawed analysis by some who are clearly detached from market realities.”