The Malta Property Market: Then and Now

 

 

 

 

 

At one time, the Maltese property market was booming. Property was selling easily, both buyers and sellers were getting great value and investors and speculators were leading the charge. Today, however, the landscape has certainly changed, but not as much as many countries, which is one more example how Malta has shown perseverance through the bad economy.

Some experts claim that this is because Malta is a small, island nation and that there is just not enough land and property to stay empty due to the high population. Malta also has a culture that is focused on home ownership and combined with everything else, prices should remain stable.

There is really no denying that home prices have changed since the European crisis came into play and falling prices are everywhere, in both cities and small towns. Some, of course, have seen larger price drops than others which shows that location can definitely have an impact on housing prices.

The other good thing for Malta is that these stable home prices are good for the economy. When property prices fall too low, the owners will fall into negative equity. This means that the value of the home is less than what you owe on the mortgage. This is what happened in the US which is why their economy struggled throughout the past few years. Many owners simply stopped paying their loans and allowed the banks to repossess the property. Banks are not property developers and don’t want the homes on their books so they sell them off at a discount. This becomes a very vicious cycle and luckily, Malta is fairly certain to not have to be a part of it.

The housing market in Malta is still going strong when compared to other nations and this is something that we can all be proud of.

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