Cheap property in the 1980s

Charles J. Buttigieg of Mellieha, while going through some old press cuttings, was surprised to find a large villa for sale for the price of Lm18,000. (Property Prices, May 9). This was 1980. I would also like to go down memory lane, for Mr Buttigieg's sake, and remind him why property prices were so low in the 1980s.

When in 1971 Labour was elected, one of the first measures was to inform all foreign settlers who had bought property in Malta that the incentive that attracted them to settle here, a few years before, was to change. Instead of the lower tax that they were paying, they had to pay the same taxes as the locals. This went down very well with Mr Mintoff's supporters, however not so well with these new settlers!

Not happy with this measure, some time later a legal notice informed them that they were not allowed to rent their property. This sent shock waves and some of them started to pack their bags.

Again, the Labour government, not happy with this measure, informed them that their property could not be used by their relatives or friends unless the actual owner was present. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. They left in droves. An English gentleman, on receiving this stencilled note, was so upset that he phoned Frank Salt and told him to get rid of his property immediately. An hour later this property was sold. I can vouch for this as I bought this property.

This was one of a long list of similar political stupidities that made property prices slide down to incredible depths.