The Malta Environmental and Planning Authority approved applications for 11,343 housing units in 2007, 10,252 of them apartments.
This is an increase of 9 per cent over the total for 2006 and is more than double the number approved five years ago.
In all, 49,149 units have been approved since 2002.
The figures provided by Mepa are all the more dramatic in the light of the recent Census report for 2005, which concluded that there were already 53,000 vacant properties on the islands, although these are clearly not all up for sale or disused.
The number of developments outside development areas (ODZ) has also gone up from 161 in 2006 to 254 in 2007. In all, 1,245 units have been developed in these zones since 2002.
In the meantime, the Central Bank of Malta's index on property prices shows that prices rose steadily from the base year of 2000 to a high of 181.5 in the June quarter of 2006, dipping slightly in subsequent quarters to reach a high of 181.9 in the June quarter of 2007, and once again dipping and recovering since then.
At the end of the March quarter this year, it stood at 178.8.
The price variations for the different categories of housing have reacted differently over the past year.
The price index for apartments has fallen from 183.5 in Q4 of 2007 to 179.8, while that for maisonettes went up from 178.2 to 181.20.
Terraced house prices were virtually unchanged at 202.1 in the first quarter of this year, compared to the last quarter of last year.
A year ago, the price index for apartments stood at 185.2, that for maisonettes was 183.5 and for terraced houses 198.2.
This is an increase of 9 per cent over the total for 2006 and is more than double the number approved five years ago.
In all, 49,149 units have been approved since 2002.
The figures provided by Mepa are all the more dramatic in the light of the recent Census report for 2005, which concluded that there were already 53,000 vacant properties on the islands, although these are clearly not all up for sale or disused.
The number of developments outside development areas (ODZ) has also gone up from 161 in 2006 to 254 in 2007. In all, 1,245 units have been developed in these zones since 2002.
In the meantime, the Central Bank of Malta's index on property prices shows that prices rose steadily from the base year of 2000 to a high of 181.5 in the June quarter of 2006, dipping slightly in subsequent quarters to reach a high of 181.9 in the June quarter of 2007, and once again dipping and recovering since then.
At the end of the March quarter this year, it stood at 178.8.
The price variations for the different categories of housing have reacted differently over the past year.
The price index for apartments has fallen from 183.5 in Q4 of 2007 to 179.8, while that for maisonettes went up from 178.2 to 181.20.
Terraced house prices were virtually unchanged at 202.1 in the first quarter of this year, compared to the last quarter of last year.
A year ago, the price index for apartments stood at 185.2, that for maisonettes was 183.5 and for terraced houses 198.2.