Of possessions and obsessions

The ongoing healthy debate on property prices offers much food for thought. Excluding politics from any argument put forward is next to impossible. Undoubtedly it is any government of the day's responsibility to recognise an existing social problem and deal with it. This administration has taken several appropriate measures to ease difficulties for the lower income bracket, although some may argue, this is not enough.

I agree there is always some room for improvement and any further incentives and schemes in the pipeline are more than welcome.

Governments can only play a minor role vis-à-vis property prices. Once the property market is, thankfully, a free one, any controls imposed by any government are out of the question. Gone are the infamous days when, at a Minister's whim, a property was targeted to be requisitioned under the false premise that is was being snitched from the owner "for the common good". Taxing property is also a bad idea as it would only serve to paralyse further the already limited cash flow of the younger property seekers.

Some say there are too many vacant properties - some 40,000 of them. It has been suggested that, to decrease rent rates, measures be taken to entice owners to allow the public more accessibility to this dormant investment. The ongoing parliamentary rent reform might encourage more owners to place their property on the rental market, but let's not fool ourselves. Owners are not charitable institutions and they too will want to make a fair buck or two.

Many argue that the mentality of purchasing a residence is wrong and that renting should be a young couple's first option. I disagree. As things stand today, prices to rent are quite exorbitant, the cheapest starting at around Lm100 per month. Browsing through the trillions of adverts in the newspapers it is obvious that anyone wishing to rent a decent property has to fork out some Lm200 plus per month. Renting costs practically as much as buying. At those monthly rates, or more, I would much rather pay instalments to settle a bank loan and own a property at the end of the day rather than throw it down a bottomless pit.

Happily, Malta holds a very high percentage of property owners and young couples are moving heaven and earth to own their own residence. Let's face it, nothing beats the thrill of furnishing your own brand new home, of hanging the first pair of curtains, of ordering a state-of-the-art kitchen, or planning your living area, even dreaming of having a fireplace etc...

And this brings us to the burning question. How high are our young couples' aspirations? What are they prepared to sacrifice? It is useless arguing that some 30 years ago a television was considered a luxury - an appropriate wedding present from one spouse to the other. Today, most couples honestly feel that even dishwashers are a must. I guess, with both spouses working full time, there is not much free time to wash dishes. Inevitably, having it all on the onset of a marriage, bills are bound to multiply and disasters start to loom.

It is finally up to each couple to decide what they want out of life, decide what their priorities are and draw the line.

I can only suggest that first-time buyers think long and hard before actually choosing a property.

And think again. They should ask themselves, how crucial is it to have three bedrooms and not two to start with? How vital is it to live in a particular over-priced (not to mention over-crowded!) location as opposed to a not so popular area? All I can say is this: Malta is tiny and investing in a car can sever thousands of Maltese liri off a loan.

The average price for a three- bedroomed flat with bathroom ensuite in specific areas might be Lm55,000 but believe me there are many decent properties going for much less all over the rest of the island.

Perhaps instead of shifting all the problems and far-fetched solutions onto the rent reform or lack thereof and onto the government, the banks, the contractors, the property owners, the estate agents etc... we need to soul search, drastically change our mentality and downsize our aspirations a notch. As the English philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell put it:

"It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents man from living freely and nobly!"