Malta Rental Study
A study by the housing authority has found.he northern harbour area is the most expensive area to rent a two-bedroom apartment, while localities in the south east of Malta and Gozo are the cheapest.
Ta' Xbiex, Valletta most expensive
A study by the housing authority has found the northern harbour area is the most expensive area to rent a two-bedroom apartment, while localities in the south east of Malta and Gozo are the cheapest.
The study concluded that the 10 most expensive localities on average to rent out a two-bedroom apartment are: Ta’ Xbiex (€1,050), Valletta (€1,050), Kalkara (€1,050), St Julian’s (€1,000), Sliema (€1,000), Vittoriosa (€950), Pembroke (€950), Swieqi (€900), Gżira (€800) and Balzan (€775).
Sliema and Vittoriosa are the most expensive on average for a three-bedroomed apartment.
Private Residential Leases Act
The Private Residential Leases Act which came into force in January 2020 introduced a number of measures to oversee rental contracts, in an effort to manage an unregulated sector.
Popular Areas for Rental in Malta
The Northern Harbour Area, emerged as the most costly and popular zone, where out of the 12,437 short-term and long-term contracts registered, the average rental price for a two-bedroom apartment was €800, and a one bedroom around €630.
Rents were 20-28% higher in this area than the rest of the island, and 44% higher than Gozo.
Turning to popularity by locality, St Paul’s Bay was the most sought out area for rentals by far, with 16% of all registered rentals (4,959) situated in the seaside town, followed by Sliema (9%), Msida (8%), St Julian's (5%) and Gżira (5%).
Rentals in Malta in 2021
Looking at 2021, 96% of the previous year’s leases were renewed while 87% of the renewed contracts had unchanged rents.
83% of Tenants are Foreign Nationals
83% of the tenants in these leases were foreign, 14% were Maltese, while 3% of leases were taken up by a mixture of Maltese and foreign tenants.
Impact of Covid-19 on rentals in Malta
The period during which Malta entered partial lockdown saw a dip in the number of registered rentals.
From 2,583 registered leases in February and 2,326 registered leases in March, during April new leases dropped to 1,535.
May and June saw a recovery, with the number of rentals climbing to 2,126 and 2,942 respectively, and reaching a peak in October at 3,203.