Malta real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend

• Gross rental yield: 4.08%
• 12-month price change (USD): 2.9%
• Net rental yield: 3.47%
• Transaction cost: 16%
• Bubble-risk band: elevated
• Price basis: national average

Malta is one of the 314 property markets Glopra tracks.

What a buyer pays in Malta

Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 16% of the price here. That is above the 9.5% median across the set — the entry cost is part of the investment case here. Of that, the transfer tax alone is 5%; the rest is notary, registration and agency fees.

What it earns

The typical home here lets for about $2,091 a month against a purchase price of $615,649, which is 4.1% gross before tax. Neither figure is quoted per square metre in this market, but both come from the same source, so the ratio between them holds. It ranks 234th of 311 markets by gross yield. Rental income is taxed at 15%, which takes the yield down to 3.5% net. The 0.6-point difference between the gross and net figure is the part most listing sites leave out. On the way out there is a third tax: a non-resident seller pays 8–10% on the gain, depending on how long the property was held and who is selling.

How the tax works. Flat 15% final withholding on the gross rent (Income Tax Act art. 31D, form TA24), with no set-off or refund, which the tax authority confirms applies to residents and non-residents alike. The ordinary non-resident scale (up to 35%, roughly 20–25% effective) is worse at every typical rent level, so the 15% option is the rational choice. Source: mtca.gov.mt.

Where the price sits against its own history

Prices are +31.3% over five years and +80.2% over ten in local terms. Today’s level sits 24.2% above the country’s own long-run trend. A gap that size does not have to close, but it is the number to watch. Glopra’s bubble-risk score for Malta is 62 out of 100 — elevated risk. Of the 65 markets scored, 28 read higher. It combines the deviation from trend, price-to-income and the pace of recent growth — a warning light, not a forecast.

Malta house price index, 2016–2026 (2016 = 100)

Rebased to 100 in 2016, the index stands at 171.5 in 2026. The series is in local currency, and the twelve-month numbers above show how much of that a dollar buyer actually keeps.

Who can buy in Malta

Freehold; AIP permit required (SDA areas exempt). That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.

How this figure is built

The price figure for Malta is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-11-05. We rate our confidence in this market’s data medium: the series is usable, but thinner or less current than our best-covered markets. We recompute every market the same way; a figure that fails our checks is suppressed, not guessed.

Sources: ec.europa.eu · globalpropertyguide.com · imin-malta.com. Snapshot: 2026-11-05.