With regards to the Budget 2021 measures related to the property and real estate sector, Founder and CEO of Alliance Malta – Real Estate People, Michael Bonello, pointed towards the threshold increase for the first-time-buyers scheme, as well as a reduced tax rate covering promise-of-sale agreements as being the most significant.

From Monday’s Budget 2021 speech, the most notable property provisions are as follows:

The Government’s first-time buyer’s scheme is being extended, with the value of property eligible for a reduced tax to be extended from €175,000 to €200,000.

A reduction on duties on property purchases, announced earlier this year, are being extended to March 2021 for promise-of-sale agreements and until the end of 2021 for the signing of contracts of sale.

As for taxes on property donations, with the first €250,000 of a property’s value being exempt, up from the current €200,000.

On the raised threshold for the first-time buyers, Mr Bonello commented that it “makes a lot of sense as this directly increases the purchasing power of this important cohort, and we expect it to have a very immediate positive effect for them”.

With reference to the reduction on duties, Mr Bonello remarked that “the reduced tax rate of 15 per cent now covering the full amount on assignment of promise of sales, can be expected to incentivise sellers that may have been reluctant up to this point”.

Asked about whether he feels measures included for the property and real estate market go far enough to assist the industry, he said:

“Considering that right now we are still in an unprecedented pandemic situation with no definite end in sight, I feel that at this point in time it would be unrealistic for us to consider the announced measures as being inadequate.”

Onto whether he feels the any useful measures were omitted from the Budget, Mr Bonello said that it is not up to him to tell the Government which priorities are more important than others for society at large.

“From our perspective, we always do our best to operate within the existent frameworks there are. We hope that we can continue to avoid another lockdown, as estate agents were not supported with any wage supplement to see us through those difficult months, and there was no mention of this at all.”

Onto a general reaction to the Budget in its entirety, Mr Bonello said that social and economic measures have been appreciated, however it would be unrealistic to say whether they go far enough.

“No new taxes were introduced, children’s allowance and pensions have been increased and the wage supplement given to pandemic-affected businesses is to continue at least until March 2021.

“Although these will not solve all the problems brought about by the pandemic, they can certainly go a long way in alleviating some of the difficulties that particular sectors are suffering from. We also welcome the Government’s commitment to green, carbon-neutral and sustainable energy policies, which could yield positive results for our economy in the longer term.”