Malta’s hottest topic for the past 10 odd years has been ongoing for years. The sky rocketing prices of properties is slowly but surely pushing the middle-class out of the property market. Many will tell you that you simply have to work hard to purchase a property. In reality however, it’s become much more than that.
What a simple 3 bedroom apartment used to cost 10 years ago has almost, if not fully, doubled in price. This dramatic change has affected many, some even not being able to buy a property with a handsome wage. Although there is the obvious factor of the you need to work hard to play hard ethic, buying a property has become nearly impossible for some.
Picture from flickr.com
The Times Of Malta revealed earlier this year that prices had shot up by 25% between 2016 and 2017 alone. Later in July, NSO statistics revealed Q1 in 2019 to have had the largest increase in property prices across the last 5 years. Such statistics reveal how the market is slowly pushing middle class workers outside of the property market at incredible pace.
“Saving €5000 but spending €50,0000 more is ludicrous”
Although the government did introduce the first time buyer scheme to motivate more people to invest, this has quickly become too small for those in need. Saving €5000 but paying €50,000 more is ludicrous. Even though this initiative must be appreciated considering it takes an average wage around 3 to 4 months to gain such an amount, it is still not enough to motivate more buyers.
The younger market has opted to delay purchasing a property in the hope that prices go down. Although this might happen, it doesn’t look like it’s going to any time soon. Property prices have been on a constant rise over the past 5 to 10 years and do not look like they are slowing down, although a slow down is soon expected.
In the end, the truth is that to purchase a property one needs to work harder than ever. However, with the situation as it stands, it is slowly turning into a requirement of luck finding a bargain rather than actually working for a proper home. Unless obviously, something is done.
Have your say on the comments section below if you have any suggestions for Malta’s ongoing property prices issue.
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