Gozo construction: 1,241 new dwellings approved in 2023

The number of new dwellings approved by the Planning Authority in Gozo has surpassed the annual 1,000 mark for the sixth year running.

Official statistics provided to MaltaToday by the Planning Authority show that in 2023 the authority approved 1,241 new dwellings in Gozo – down from the record 1,885 approved in 2022 in the immediate post-COVID year.

The number of dwellings approved in Gozo is the lowest since 2019, but remains higher than that approved in any single year between 2012 and 2018.

In total in the five years between 2019 and 2023 the PA issued permits for 7,627 new dwellings in Gozo. These account for 69% of the 11,060 new dwellings approved in Gozo since 2012.

Despite the decrease in the overall number of new dwellings approved in Gozo in 2023, when compared to the previous year, Nadur, Xewkija and Ghasri have defied this trend: in Nadur the number of new dwellings increased from 147 in 2022 to 217 in 2023; in Xewkija new dwellings shot up from 145 to 216 in 2023; and in tiny Għasri, which had 432 dwellings in the last Census, saw 17 news ones in 2023, up from 11 the previous year.

But in an indication that some localities have reached a saturation point, the number of new dwellings approved in Rabat decreased drastically from 387 in 2022, to 152 in 2023. Sannat also saw a considerable reduction in the number of new dwellings approved, from 274 in 2022 to 98 in 2023.

The number of new dwellings in Gozo rose from just 227 in 2013 to 712 in 2017, then to 1,061 in 2018 and 1,754 in 2019. They dropped to 1,353 and 1,394 during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, but permits shot up to 1,885 right after in 2022.

The post-2017 upsurge reflected both the economic turnaround and new policies facilitating the approval of five-storey blocks instead of existing townhouses, or on land added to building boundaries in 2006.

Over the past years Gozo has become more attractive to buyers looking for a holiday home due to lower prices. A KPMG study in 2022 showed properties in Gozo were 20% cheaper than in southern Malta, which is already 30% cheaper than the north harbour area.