The number of properties sold in Malta in 2014 could be as much as 6 per cent higher than in the previous year, according to a survey carried out by Re/Max Malta.

The survey is carried out by an independent firm twice a year and this year incorporated unpublished data from the Home Affairs Ministry.

The real estate company found that 9,875 properties were sold in 2013, while 6,989 were sold in the first eight months of 2014.

“If sales were to continue at the same pace until the end of the year, the total will reach over 10,400 properties. This would signify an increase of promise of sales over the previous year of circa 6 per cent,” regional director Jeff Buttigieg said.

Part of the increase is due to the schemes introduced by the government for first–time buyers, he added, with 2,100 promise of sale agreements concluded from the introduction of the scheme in July 2013 to the beginning of September, 2014. This means that first time buyers account for nearly a third of all property sales in the first eight months of the year.

Asked about their intentions to buy a property within the next three years, 18 per cent of the respondents said they or their immediate family wanted to buy, with 68 per cent and 14 per cent saying “no” and “do not know” respectively.

The survey also looked at perceptions of real estate agents and nearly 60 per cent said they felt a real estate agent could assist them in making the right choices about the type of home they want.

Just six months ago, in the previous survey, only 51 per cent had given this response, showing an increase in confidence of the competence of an estate agent.

The respondents were also asked whether they agreed that a real estate agent could professionally guide them and negotiate a better deal than purchasing directly through an owner.

In this case, 41 per cent agreed with this statement, compared with 32 per cent in the March 2014 study.

www.remax-malta.com/malta-real-estate-report-sept-14.aspx

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.