It's getting closer .....

Just make sure he doesn't buy ...........the bubble is going to

burst soon ......

Cheers
Ricky

lol Ricky, we are renting not buying

Unless I win that £79,000,000 on tonights lottery lol

While property prices in Malta have stabilized, it is very hard for the Maltese property bubble to 'burst'. The place is small, with a local population of 410,000+ and increasing every decade.. space is limited and locals have no choice but to buy as they will not rent. It is true that lots of property is vacant, but the contractors are not bothered and they will leave it empty till one day the market will catch up again. With what you pay for an apartment in Malta, you will get a semi detached with a garden in the UK - in a decent location, no fiesta bombs getting off every weekend in summer, as well as no  dogs locked in balconies or roof, with running round in circles come rain or shine,  barking their heads off 24 hours a day with no consideration to their neighbours

Hello the_viper.

You can try to post an advert in the housing in Malta section. It can be useful

Good luck in your research,
Aurélie

But by purchasing it makes things so much easier...

All these problems with Landlords, getting utilities into your name, paying deposits for tv, internet, Resident permits.....

I can honestly say I have had none of these problems, and I have owned a property on Malta for about 6 years now.... yes you have dogs barking... yes you have people getting up at 5:00 opening the garages, slamming the doors etc etc... Seriously people that moan about Malta need to leave then.. easy as, you come for a better life then moan that is not like the one you had ... ah well

Julian

we have been renting for four years now - no regrets - and none of those problems - and if you do have them or come across them during your tenancy, as its often not obvious until you have been there for a while.....if they are, you simply move simple as....cant really do that easily once you have bought...its really a matter of personal choice - buying is not for us - never in my lifetime would I buy here - the properties are mostly jerrybuilt. and I for one dont trust the build quality one bit....i have watched too many go up, ina manner of speaking

if you do buy then be 110% sure its ideal in every possible way...and then some....and be in it for the long haul not the short term as selling is not easy.

Toon,

you are 110% right its what suits the way that you want to be.

To be honest each person, as we have said before, has different needs and different tastes, therefore its not right for someone to say "Don't Buy in Malta" or "Don't Rent in Malta" as for every individual its different..

Jules

absolutely mate....i always subscribed to buying rather than renting back in the UK and thats what we did - we had our own house....as that financially is sound sense - renting is absolutely dead money, cant fault that argument at all..However for us whilst here we wanted flexibility due to the current financial markets, housing markets and the complete uncertainty of the euro and euroland in general .....and renting gives us what we need. One really good side of it is that it sort of controls your outgoings, no unexpected repairs or in our case none at all......and fixed rates of rent thus making financial planning much easier...especially important in the initial stages of moving to a new country....

there are just as many good things about buying too but as i said its not for us.

Hi Julian,

of course it always is a very individual decision to buy or rent a property.

When I advise people not to buy I mean at the prices that are asked for at the moment. Buying at a price like you did 6 or more years ago is something completely different. Even with a massive drop in prices in Malta you will still be 'over water'.

There are many different predictions about the way property prices in Malta will go depending on the motiv behind the statement. If you are looking at keeping your property for ten or more years it probably does not matter but I do know many owners who are having problems selling their property at the moment. There is not a very large number of buyers out there.

Some flats are even being offered now as a ' fractional ownership' ! A new word created to avoid using the word Timeshare -)))

So if you are here to stay longterm I would still advise to wait with buying a year or two. Could save a lot of money and the chances that you will have to pay more in two years time are minute.

Cheers
Ricky