Half of the stock of 72,000 vacant dwellings recorded in the national census two years ago consists of summer residences, an analysis presented to architects shows. The analysis was presented by Michael Pace Ross, head of the National Statistics Office.
It shows that 46 per cent of vacant dwellings were reserved for seasonal or secondary use. This means that just over 33,000 properties were not available on the market despite being recorded as vacant.
This is the first time that a more detailed breakdown of vacant property was given after the NSO confirmed some months ago there were 72,150 empty houses, up from the 53,136 recorded in the 2005 census.
Environmental groups have often quoted the headline figure for vacant properties to justify their argument against more construction projects but the breakdown paints a slightly different picture.
There were almost 4,000 properties in a dilapidated state or in need of repair
The analysis shows that there were almost 39,000 dwellings vacant all year round but even here not all were readily available on the market because of their state of repair.
Half of the 72,000 vacant dwellings were in a good state of repair, which almost equates to the number of summer houses. Nine per cent were in shell form while empty houses needing minor or moderate repairs made up 31 per cent of the stock.
There were almost 4,000 properties – 10 per cent – in a dilapidated state or in need of serious repair.
Just over half the vacant dwellings were apartments and a quarter consisted of terraced and town houses.
A third of vacant dwellings were found in St Paul’s Bay, Sliema, Marsalforn, Mellieħa and Marsascala.
When contacted, architect Michael Falzon, who heads the Malta Developers Association, was not surprised by the findings.
“The MDA has always insisted that the figure of 72,000 comprised a large number of units not available for sale on the market because it included summer residences and other properties that were not habitable for one reason or another,” he said. Mr Falzon said the association had long insisted that the NSO should follow up its figures by a detailed scientific breakdown of the situation.
The request was favourably met by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna and his predecessor Tonio Fenech, he added. In July, Charles Buhagiar, chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council, a government advisory body, had announced the creation of a working group to study the problems caused by vacant properties.
Mr Buhagiar had at the time valued the stock of empty houses – based on 72,000 properties – at almost €5 billion.
He said BICC was looking into ways of bringing back the empty property on to the market.
Vacant all year round: top five
• St Paul’s Bay
• Sliema
• Birkirkara
• Valletta
• Żabbar