Established over 30 years ago, Engel & Völkers is one of the leading real estate companies on the island. Its CEO, Benjamin Tabone Grech is determined to positively transform the island’s property sector reputation, with a view to making Malta all about quality.

Aged eight, Benjamin remembers going to see a house in Tal-Balal with his mother and her clients. “Even then I was excited by property, and I was giving advice about which walls they should knock down to make the house more practical. That’s when it all began, and it hasn’t stopped since!”

While studying in the UK, Benjamin, then 17, would spend his summers working on the rental side of the family business and getting a clear idea of the property market. He then earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in architecture and environmental design, and followed that dream in London and Berlin to work as an architect.

He has been with Engel & Völkers for nearly a decade, and inherited the CEO baton from his mother, Sara, now semi-retired and serving as the company’s chairperson.

Benjamin describes his role as “adding more innovation to the way people are managed and motivated”, underscoring the fact that he works in a very old industry his family has been in for more than 60 years. “So it’s crucial to consider that there may be newer, better ways of doing things. I am particularly dedicated to finding the most efficient ways to integrate tech into the business, so everyone who works for us can have more time to focus on providing a better service.”

Benjamin brings a substantial amount of experience to the table but he is also renowned for his fresh outlook and dynamic approach. “I am serious about this sector, and I have been working incredibly hard to help agents earn more respect,” he says, highlighting the fact that, traditionally, real estate was an industry that anyone could join without any particular qualifications. “This isn’t an easy industry to work in, and not everyone can cut it as an agent.”

With that in mind, Benjamin spent a substantial period of time working on getting the sector regulated, and trying to encourage other major stakeholders to assess how best they can work together on raising standards and service. This is a battle he intends to take to the top.

“It doesn’t scare me,” he asserts. “I am not frightened by the idea of disagreeing with people who have a strong lobby voice as we implement training and ensure that those working in the sector can get qualified, perhaps with a higher diploma, Bachelor’s, or even a Master’s degree, as people do overseas.

“When buyers come to an agent, we want them to trust that the agent knows what he or she is doing, and has the skills to see their purchase through to completion in a positive and successful manner. There have been too many horror stories in real estate in the last few years.”

Benjamin says that real estate experienced a constant six-year cycle since the early 1990s. “Malta has the dynamics of a city but the culture of a country; this is a place where, if something happens in the market, people respond to it quite quickly.

He notes that property prices here sometimes compete with those in central London, Rome and Paris though the infrastructure and surroundings do not match up. “Our built environment can be shocking in places, and that’s affecting quality of life. And, then, there’s the build quality,” he continues. “A lot of new builds do not match up to what you would expect for their price.”

In his opinion, people have lost faith in the construction sector, and that sentiment would have its effects. He comments that, notwithstanding the attractions the country is endowed with, one must still ask the question whether it can compete on quality of life.

Although speaking well before the coronavirus pandemic hit Malta, Benjamin’s words still stand when he says he remains hopeful we will start to focus on what our island should be for the long-term, and realistic about what people will want to pay for it.

“All this,” he adds, “will tie in with the better standards and service that we are trying to achieve for the sector in general, ensuring we have an all-round better product to give our buyers, whether local or foreign.”

Engel & Völkers is determined to work with the right sellers in the market to ensure the lifestyle product it is retailing is aligned with what customers are looking for, and what they need. “

We want our clients to have complete confidence in us and our sellers, and to know that due diligence is being done across the board, from within our team and, then, across the entire property-buying process. Cowboys are not a part of that future.”

His own personal focus remains that of securing Engel & Völkers’ place as market leaders and strengthening the team. “The way forward is all about quality,” Benjamin concludes.

This is a serialisation of the publication Malta CEOs 2020. All interviews took place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.