As per an industry survey on the rental and property market released by Belair Property together with Anchovy/Onest Data, Managing Director of Belair Property, Ian Casolani, said the results show that some landlords are willing to wait out this period of uncertainty, rather than reduce their asking price.

The survey, with over 1,000 respondents, found that 74 per cent of respondents fear for the future of the rental market locally.

“Due to redundancies in the service industries, many foreign workers left Malta during the pandemic, leaving rental properties empty. This has severely impacted the rental market. In addition, some landlords have generously reduced rents to help tenants through the crisis, and they’re keeping rents low to attract new tenants.

“The survey shows, however, that other landlords are willing to wait out this period of uncertainty rather than reduce their asking price, even though they believe that reducing their asking price would increase their rate of rental. All in all, I believe that as long as the Government takes the hard – but crucial – decisions needed to restore Malta’s credibility on all fronts, the coming year will be a good time for expats to return to the island. We’ll then see the levels of property rentals return to what we’re used to.”