Prices for maisonettes shoot up by 10% after summer lull

Central Bank property index sees maisonette prices stabilise after abnormal depression in 2010.

29 December 2010, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

1 min read

Advertised prices for maisonettes have shot up in the third quarter of 2010, according to the Central Bank of Malta’s latest property index.

Data shows that in the months of July to September, prices for maisonettes increased by 10.19% after having depressed abnormally by 7% back in March 2010.

The Central Bank’s data, compiled from advertised prices, shows a gentle upturn to pre-2009 prices, when the global recession bit deep and saw property prices plunge from an index high of 178 in January 2008, to 161 in January 2009.

The summer months saw a slight decrease in prices for apartments (0.7%) and terraced houses (3.8%), while townhouses, houses of character, and villas increased comprehensively by 6.3%.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

Joseph Grech •

The reliance by the Central Bank on 'Advertised' property prices can play into the hands of estate agents and developers. Anybody NEEDING a property will not be put off by the advertised price. At the end of the day it is the negotiated price that will clinch the deal. On the other hand, it makes sense to me that an orchestrated surge in the prices of advertised properties could nudge 'investors' who were sitting at the side looking at plummeting prices, to 'pounce' when prices start going up again. Rather like what happens all the time in the stock exchange. If there are buyers waiting to make an investment, they would be waiting for the 'signal' which indicates an upturn. Like most gullible investors, looking at the narrow picture of ups and downs (advertised property prices are in fact unreal property values) without seeing the bigger picture of supply and demand would play into the hands of property developers and help them to offload their ‘extensive’ portfolio!

Alfred Galea •

A little hard to believe.....it's not the advertised prices that are important, it's the selling prices that count. Someone is trying to jumpstart the sale of maisonettes and other properties.