Maltese property prices increased 9.7% in the year ending the third quarter this year, according to the third quarter index released today by estate agency Knight Frank. This was enough to rank Malta in 3rd place in the global league table, behind Austria, with the same percentage growth and Israel with an annual growth of 13.70%.
Needless to say this made Malta the best performing property market in Europe according to the index. This is good news for the silent tiger in Europe, which is exactly what it needs as it becomes apparent that the major multi-use SmartCity development will be lucky to go ahead, given the debt problems of its major backer, which was of course the beleaguered Dubai World.
There is a trend throughout the index that property prices are growing in the nations that are enjoying a period of recovery and growth in the wider economy. Malta would seem to be the exception to this rule, as its economy saw a 0.9% quarterly contraction in the second quarter. Third quarter results on the Maltese economy are yet to become available. Also yet to become available is the quarterly data on Maltese property prices.
That said: in Knight Frank’s second quarter index there was absolutely nothing on Malta’s performance, so something is better than nothing. It would still be nice to see if Malta’s annual growth, is being continued into the shorter term, but hey, we can’t have everything can we?