Cost of living in Malta — 2015

totally agree - - we compared like everyone does to the prices in UK and eventually you accept what it is by shopping around.... - but now we compare in Cyprus to what we used to pay in Malta... with a surprising outcome.

oh interesting I heard Cyprus was massively expensive since the "bailout" I also heard the UK wont pay pensions into cyrpus bank accounts due to possible "haircuts" glad you are enjoying it. as an example a barely decent one bed flat in my old town in UK was about 550 GBP per month I pay 400 EUROS for a 2 bed with 3 balconies overlooking the harbour.

its not as expensive as people think - its very much swings and roundabouts - and believe me as an ex accountant and office manager for over 30 years, my numbers stack up.. i wouldnt be here otherwise... for us (overall costs) its worked out about 15% cheaper than Malta, its fab for tax efficiency you can earn €19500 per yr each tax free... you do of course have to be careful on somethings but there are ways to avoid some things legally... as for pensions being paid it doesnt really matter as the exchange rate right now is superb and with efficient methods of exchange you can get  at least €1.34 and above so does it really matter where it gets paid initially - no in my opinion it doesnt  - Uk pensions get the increases just as you would in malta and any other member state

there are of course lots of things to consider

for example accom is very very cheap here and superb quality... 2bed townhouse almost new FF comm pool and gardens all maintained.... garage or car parking allocated, water incl, rubbish taxes incl comm charges incl.... €395

it all depends on personal circumstances -  it works for us ... thats all i can say

if you want to know more then PM me...

wow good deal on the rental for sure. yes good exchange rate at the moment my initial thought was to go to Kos but of course health care is my main issue as I cant get health insurance. great info though and maybe other readers will benefit from it too.

once again thanks for all the info

Hello everyone,
My name is Chloe I'm 25, I am living in Malta with boyfriend and our pet staffy.
We have been here 2 years now and this is my conclusion so far....
We live in Birkirkara, not as we planned, we were hoping to live in sliema/ St julians when we arrived, but soon realised is wasn't affordable. We are from Jersey, Channel Islands UK.
Smaller than malta but in some ways similar.
Accommodation prices for us seen reasonable, as you won't get much under £1000 p/m in Jersey. We have a very nice penthouse apartment 500 p/m which we feel is amazing compared to back home. We have been considering moving towards St Paul's Bay Area as cheaper and closer to the sea.
Public transport- bus prices are great 1.50 all day ticket, and I'm aware cheaper if you get a pass. We don't use them that often to comment much more, however whenever I do get the bus there always full so many people find it beneficial. I suppose parking is hard to find in sliema buggibba, and car parks are very expensive.
Food prices- we find this a difficult one. we have a butcher next door, Ta Paris butcher, he has a great selection and very reasonable prices, you just have to get used to waiting up to 45 mins at a time, as always busy with people ordering weeks worth of meat. We use Lidl for basics, toiletries, veg/ fruit sometimes we get from the veg man. We try to budget €200 p/m and €50 at the corner shop. Sometimes we manage less. That's including feeding our hungry pup. We also go to Pavi if we want anything Lidl doesn't have. I am always baffled by the price of frozen food, I see Iceland produce (example.£2) selling for €6/7. I can never justify buying it. Again coming from an island myself and having Iceland, the mark up is 5% so I can't see how it is justified. I don't eat any 'easy' meals anymore, ready meal, pizza, chicken Kiev. Which I suppose is good for the health conscious.
But sometimes, it would be nice to grab a pizza and some chips for £2.
Electricity/water prices we find the same as Jersey, not sure how it differs to Mainland UK.
We only pay for Internet which we find reasonable,we steam all UK channels.
food prices when eating out vary a lot. Wee like the fact if you are on a budget you can still enjoy a decent meal, and prices of wine, beer, spirits seem to be very cheap, friends always shocked when they visit and get a round of drinks. The price is very good. Again coffee prices are good in most places. €1.50 ish compared to 3/4£ at home, Cinema prices are much cheaper, we always take our own snacks aswell!!
In all there are a few things that bug me but not enough for me to leave this wonderful island. There are always pros and cons anywhere you live. We plan on staying here, hope this has helped!
Thanks
Chloe

Cost of Malta is not expensive . It's up to 300 to 400 . Euro per person but it's depone on you what are you doing tHis cost is normal without drinking alcohols . This is for food and rent .

Hi i have been here 35 yrs and believe me i have shopped around and find i always revert back to smart supermarket in B.'Kara been going there since the 80's

YES COST OF LIVING IN MALTA?

ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Main_Page

ok being half Maltese I thought me my husband and two kids should move to Malta from UK to spend time with my mum. worst mistake of our lives its fine if u have no kids but its expensive if u do so its around 450-500e in quiet areas for rent around 25-40e a month for water and elec more if u use air con now food for a family is roughly 125e a week u need pack lunches for school and 2per child a day. school costs a bomb for public. free school u have to but everything and its not cheap before they start each year its around 400e per child and more costs throughout the year bearing in mind u get no benefits over there ie child tax u get about 15 e a week per child after so long no housing benefit until 1.5 years of living there now wages don't get me started its around 4.50e an hour rubbish and ur lucky if u get paid sometimes and when u don't its tough luck they don't care now cars ur lucky to get a car from 1991 to 1995 for less than 500e and if u crash good luck for the costs cos trust u will crash at least once don't think ur going to shop for luxuries cos already ur bank rupt you'll only be able to go beach no ice creams yes alcohol is cheap but that's it electricals cost 4x the amount of UK example a microwave is 100e there medicine is all different prices from 8e to 50e all in all u have to be rich to live In Malta I learnt that the hard way and had to leave the island I couldn't afford to eat in the end for a whole month before I left I lost lots of weight and was I'll yes its fine if u have no kids Cos u have the same money without bit be prepared to work 60-70 hour weeks and still struggle good luck

Sorry things didn't work out for you kieranellie-
I think it's worth saying that if you come here and expect to live a similar lifestyle to that of the U.K. it can end up costing .

Microwaves are expensive but they had one in lidl for 69.99 the other week (highly popular) but it I would ask so you really need one , has doesn't work out too expensive and the cost is going down.

I find it quite high in respect to wages, as Kieranellie pointed out. Have no idea how people with kids do it. But then, I don't really know how they do it anywhere in the world.

i was just providing a microwave as an example i didnt buy one when there i couldnt afford to im talking about all electricals incluing phones xbox's etc and no i didnt expect to live the same life but u cant live any life there with kids if u wasnt bought up in malta my husband worked from 7am to 6pm mon to fri and as soon as he had his wages we would go food shopping pay a little rent at the end of that we had little money for much else some weeks he wouldnt get paid we didnt buy any luxuries at all and when my child was sick the medication costs were extortionate that some weeks i could barely afford to feed my kids let alone us and when it came to buying things for the kids school i couldnt i had to keep them off on days i coulnt even afford to put them into child care in summer hholidays for 3 months as it cost more than my wages so i had to give up work i am speaking frankly warning families that unless they have a substantial amount of money then dont go if u have no kids then yes its cheap as u can just rent out a room have no other costs so yes u have a comfy life as a young single couple or old im just giving my experience even my mum who is from there has to work stupid hours 7 days a week for 250e i have to send her money weekly just so she can live unless u are apart of the many scams over there you will not survive as a family unless by some miracle you get a great job that will pay you but i couldnt find any and i have accountancy and business management

400 per child before start of public school?
don't lie to people - i bought complete uniform, ordered black and white shoes online, bought school bag bought stationery and I payed around 215e
cost's during one school year don't exceed 50e, i know 'cos I counted them
you'r speaking about xbox and other electronics - we'll i bought all mine online, used amazon and other stores

car is NOT a necessary thing, i have 7yo and 2yo child and we are doing just fine without one, sure it is easier to have one, I can afford it and probably will buy it at one point, but you can live without it

total cost for summer school schola skajf costed  last year was around 100e for whole summer (8-14 every day), that surely is not too much

nursery is free if both parent work
***
i'm not saying that family can live easily with 1000e per month (but surely such family will rent something for 300, not 500) but it can be done without starvation

Expat.com wrote:

Hi all,

We invite you to talk about the cost of living in Malta in 2015, with an updated price listing.

Don't forget to mention in which city of Malta you are living in.

How much does it cost to live in Malta?

> accommodation prices

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.)

> food prices (your monthly budget)

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)

> education prices (if you need to pay)

> energy prices (oil, electricity)

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant

> price for a coffee or a drink

> price for cinema tickets

Do not hesitate to add items to this list!

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Living in Birzebuggia ...

accommodation 400 per month 2 bed flat
public transport 72 euros for 3 months pass (till july)
monthly food budget 160 euros
health/education....N/A
utilities (water/electric) around 100 per month
intenet 81 per month (melita TV XL 60 mb internet and mobile)
decent menu here about 25 euros per person
coffee I use costas so about 2.5 euros
cinema 4.15 senior ticket about 5.75 for normal one
most importantly of all 20 Marlboro are 5 euros (around £3.74) at current exchange rates....bargain

all round a damn sight cheaper than UK/northern Europe

Redders there is a cinema in fgura and its only 3€ per film ... Check it out
It's at the galleria

oh wow I use the embassy complex in Belt as I can take a costa cappuchino upstairs with me. I will have a look tho and thanks mate

redders_61 wrote:

Expat.com wrote:

Hi all,

We invite you to talk about the cost of living in Malta in 2015, with an updated price listing.

Don't forget to mention in which city of Malta you are living in.

How much does it cost to live in Malta?

> accommodation prices

> public transportation fares (tube, bus etc.)

> food prices (your monthly budget)

> health prices (for those who need medical insurance)

> education prices (if you need to pay)

> energy prices (oil, electricity)

> common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)

> price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant

> price for a coffee or a drink

> price for cinema tickets

Do not hesitate to add items to this list!

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Living in Birzebuggia ...

accommodation 400 per month 2 bed flat
public transport 72 euros for 3 months pass (till july)
monthly food budget 160 euros
health/education....N/A
utilities (water/electric) around 100 per month
intenet 81 per month (melita TV XL 60 mb internet and mobile)
decent menu here about 25 euros per person
coffee I use costas so about 2.5 euros
cinema 4.15 senior ticket about 5.75 for normal one
most importantly of all 20 Marlboro are 5 euros (around £3.74) at current exchange rates....bargain

all round a damn sight cheaper than UK/northern Europe

Thats interesting as a breakdown, at least it shows that we could live on our pensions without touching our savings, couldn't do that in the UK, our savings would just dwindle away.

There isn't a costa coffee though but they do have ta lira cafe down stairs which sells sandwiches and rolls from 1€-3€ depending on what you have ...
The cinema web address is
http://www.tal-lira.com/cinema/

They also have Euroland there and the food and beverage in the cinema
Is €2,50 per drink and popcorn,nachos,snack etc

So for the price of a standard UK ticket £8 you can watch film and eat

yes indeed my civil service pension is £773 per month and I manage, just. so 2 pensions would cover it. Mine goes up a lot in august 2016 when I am 55 thank god lol

ha yeah last time I went in UK ticket sweets and drink etc came to about 20 quid lol thanks for that now I gotta work out where fgura is lol

most of my savings dwindled away on a young maltese girlfriend (stupid I know) lol I do have some difficulty sticking to the 140 a month but am trying hard

Get any 90 bus from valletta  to fgura

oh ok I was trying to figure out where fgura is lol yeah the marsaskala buses 91 92 93 ?

Yeah it's between paola and marsascala

ahhh ok thanks I change buses at the prison get one from there. cheers

How do you find 2 bed flat for 400? I can't find even for 500, and I'm really trying hard for one year. Now we are in a tiny 1 bed flat in Swieqi for 500. Actually it's modified garage.    Yesterday finally found a biger one in Gharghur for 650 plus 25 for elevator, plus water+electricity in a "special" price ...

whole block in marsascala for 350 1 bed but lovely. 2 bed house in birzebuggia for 400 try down south birzebuggia marsascala etc and also look at maltapark for direct from owner stuff too. up north is far too expensive unless you are loaded. As for modified garage my ex maltese girlfriend lives in one with her mum costs em about 150 a month. somewhere along the line you are being well ripped off

Yes I pay €250 for my one bed in marsaxlokk .. I wouldn't pay that for a garage modified or otherwise

Look on Malta park as he says

yes I couldn't remember to spell where you live rob lol or qainezza I can never spell either but its across the harbour from me and a lot cheaper but would need aircon in the summer (south facing) I got this place via estate agent last march. she took me to like 5 places all over the island in her car.

btw what is an "EB member" ? lol

no idea lol
i assume you get different tittles on post counts lol

ha I thought you would claim Extra Big lol whereas im active and far from it lol

btw rob Pavi have started selling large cans of Heinz BBQ beans for 1.03. i've only ever seen the small ones in the UK so on that basis cheaper here (do the ones with sausages in too now, YUK) lol

Iza.............Our 3 bed apartment,  1 en suite, etc = 350 per month. (Less an amount to compensate for elec/water charges)
I have PM'd you.

EB Member = Expat.com Member.

Hi,

How can i found nice and good price room in Slimea? I am moving to Malta next month.. Where shall i look?

Thank you

nurcan23 wrote:

Hi,
How can i found nice and good price room in Slimea? I am moving to Malta next month.. Where shall i look?
Thank you

I have sent you a private message, contact that person because I also know he also has other connections that could help you.

Hi I am farooq. I am very confused. Plz let me know. I want come over there.

farooq alam wrote:

Hi I am farooq. I am very confused. Plz let me know. I want come over there.

If you are confused, how do you know you want to come here?

Hi farooq,

many people from Pakistan want to come to Malta.

Why are you confused ? Maybe you should not consider coming !

i think its important for anyone who wants to come to Malta  - need to identify why???