It never makes sense to go in blind to any business situation. From setting up new ventures to exploring potential expansions, every opportunity needs careful assessment to determine whether or not it will be successful.

One key aspect within that assessment is information and, specifically, statistical information. It is vital to know and understand market trends, to tally numbers and to compare year-on-year changes.

But, while it may be important, to do so effectively, it is nearly impossible for those involved in the property industry in Malta.

That’s because we have barely any national statistics that we can utilise to make our assessments. Meanwhile, different agencies specialise in different markets, which means that many have different perceptions about numbers and trends, which can cause market confusion.

Of course, there are some numbers that we can call on, such as the Property Price Index from the Central Bank of Malta, and the Housing Retail Price Index from the National Statistics Office.

But both are pretty basic, and they only give us a very rudimentary idea of how the property market is faring. To make matters more complicated, one set of these statistics is based on advertised prices, while the other is worked out on contract prices.

Yes the property industry, mainly developers and estate agents, as well as the public at large, are in dire need of more solid and more detailed statistics.

This will help us to answer the plethora of questions the industry needs answers to. For instance, how many one-, two- and three-bedroomed properties were sold in 2014? What locations were they in? How does this compare to the previous year? What size were these? And in what localities?

How many vacant properties are available for sale and, more importantly, saleable? How many are in urban conservation areas? What can be done to make them a more attractive investment? What purchasing incentives can be created?

We have barely any national statistics that we can utilise to make our assessments

The truth is that while the island’s property sector has evolved substantially in recent years, we need comprehensive statistics to know year on year differences in number, value of sales and in which location to better plan for the future.

On the sales side, we don’t know the preferred dwelling size, preferred locations or what to expect from future demand. As for lettings, the buy to let investor needs to know the property types that let fastest, the most sought-after locations and the average price ranges, as well as the up-and-coming areas being considered.

We do have our own pointers, since demand by itself already gives you a good indication, but this is not enough. If we had this information, it would enable us to plan more effectively and to work with developers to ensure that supply is meeting demand.

It will also help better plan the type of properties built and set a price indicator for the property market, based on type of property, location (as detailed as per street, since there are strong variations in prices in different areas of the same localities), year in which it was built and square meterage.

This will ultimately provide a better guideline for the buyer as to what is a fair asking price for a property. Statistics are also needed to provide insight into what foreigners are buying on the island. Is it important to assess how many foreigners buy in a particular year, what they’re looking for and how much they spend?

Do they want villas with pools or apartments in Special Designated Areas? Where are they coming from and what local facilities are they most drawn to?

This sort of data will help us to know whether the right properties are available to sustain this integral part of the market and to keep Malta competitive in the global property sphere. Meanwhile, as high-rise construction in some of the island’s busiest areas continues to raise eyebrows among those keen to reduce it, what can be done to better utilise all the vacant properties that we know are out there?

For the most part, they remain a mystery, caught up in inheritance disagreements or kept in a state of disrepair. The right knowledge could encourage incentives that will entice their owners to put them on the market, thus giving developers the opportunity to rehabilitate them and sell them on.

These properties are currently an underutilised resource in the country and something that urgently needs to be addressed. Of course, it is pointless to ask all of these questions without also considering how this information should be collated, and by whom. Should we rely on public sources and governmental organisations or revert to the private industry such as developers and agencies?

Certainly the latter can never provide the full picture. Moving forward, the Building Industry Consultative Committee is working on a national property index that will give part of the information in the long term, but will fall short of what is required.

A platform co-ordinating and collating information from different entities is desperately needed.

Douglas Salt is director of Frank Salt Real Estate.