The Malta Buyer’s Guide
Buying a house in Malta from abroad, in nine steps — from deciding what the house is for, to the morning the keys change hands. Free, without a form in front of it, and written by the people who do it.
Decide what the house is for.
A home you will live in, a house for part of the year, a route to residence, or an asset you will let. The answer changes where you should look and which rules apply, so settle it before you look at a single listing.
Malta’s Permanent Residence Programme can lead to residence through a qualifying purchase or lease, alongside government contributions and a test of your means. Its thresholds are revised from time to time — read the current terms with the Residency Malta Agency before planning around any figure. What Malta no longer offers is citizenship by investment: the EU Court of Justice ended that scheme in April 2025.
If you are a US citizen, the United States taxes your worldwide income wherever you live, so Malta’s special tax regimes do much less for Americans than for Europeans. Take advice from a cross-border tax adviser before you buy. We do not give tax advice, and nor should anyone selling you a house.
What the house does here — On the first call we ask what the house is for, and if your answer points somewhere other than Malta, or other than us, we say so.
Establish whether you need a permit.
Most buyers from outside the European Union need the Acquisition of Immovable Property permit — the AIP — unless the property lies within a Special Designated Area, the developments where non-residents may buy without one. The permit carries minimum-value thresholds and is routine for a qualified buyer; the promise of sale is normally made conditional on its being granted.
The rules differ for citizens of EU member states and for long-term residents. Your notary confirms which apply to you.
What the house does here — We prepare and file the AIP application for you.
Understand that there is no MLS.
No single list shows the Maltese market. Houses are spread across rival agencies, notaries and word of mouth; one house can appear with several agencies, described differently, and some of the best are never advertised at all.
Whoever shows you a house is usually paid by its seller — customarily a percentage of the price you pay. That is not a scandal, but it does mean that nobody in the room is paid to argue for you unless you have engaged someone to.
What the house does here — We search the whole market — the listed and the quiet — and act on one side of the table only, named in writing before you see anything.
Choose where.
Malta is small enough that every district is near every other, and different enough that the choice matters more than the distance. A heritage townhouse in Valletta, a converted store in Birgu, a seafront flat in Sliema, a palazzo in Mdina and a farmhouse in Gozo are five different purchases with five different sets of risks.
Valletta & Floriana
The capital: baroque, walkable, and never anonymous.
The Three Cities
Birgu, Senglea, Cospicua: the harbour's oldest quarter, and its quietest.
Sliema & St Julian's
The seafront parishes: the island's most liquid market.
Mdina, Rabat & the villages
Palazzi inside the walls, gardens and villages outside them.
Gozo
The second island: smaller, slower, and twenty-five minutes by ferry.
What the house does here — Each district has its own free guide: indicative price bands, who it suits, and what to watch for before you offer.
Shortlist and view — from far away.
Ask for measurements, not adjectives; for the Planning Authority record of anything old; for the state of the roof, the damp and the access, and whether ground rent — ċens — is payable. A heritage building is a commitment rather than a finish, and the questions that matter are easier to ask before you fly than after.
Plan viewings so that a trip is worth taking: a shortlist seen together, in one visit, beats a single house seen alone.
What the house does here — Every candidate is visited, measured and documented by the house before you are shown it, and a member of the house opens every door — no lockboxes, ever.
Make the offer, and sign the konvenju.
When terms are agreed, buyer and seller sign the konvenju — the promise of sale, Malta’s version of going under contract — and the buyer places a 10% deposit. It fixes the price, the conditions (typically the permit, a clean title and, where relevant, financing) and the period within which the final deed must be signed.
Read it before you sign it. Once it is signed, walking away for any reason other than a failed condition usually costs the deposit.
What the house does here — We negotiate on your side of the table, and coordinate the konvenju, the AIP permit and the notary to the final deed.
Let the notary search.
In Malta the notary is a lawyer and a public officer: the buyer customarily appoints one, who searches and verifies the title, checks for debts and charges registered against the property, publishes the deed and collects the duty. The searches take about three months.
What the house does here — On a house we introduced — The Clean Title Guarantee: If we miss something a proper search should have caught, the fee comes back.
Sign the final deed — and know the costs beforehand.
Beyond the price, expect stamp duty of about 5% (1% of the price on the konvenju, the balance on the deed), the notary at 1–2%, and — if you have engaged a buyer’s agent — their fee. Most purchases here complete in cash; local financing works differently from the United States.
What the house does here — Our fee is 2.5% plus VAT (2.95% in all) of the price you actually pay, fixed in writing before we begin and paid at closing — keys in hand, not before.
Take the keys — and plan for the months you are away.
Utilities transferred into your name, insurance from the day of the deed, and someone trusted to look in on the house while you are not there. If residence is part of the plan, its paperwork runs alongside.
What the house does here — Keys are handed over by a member of the house. If we introduce you to a property manager or any other adviser and receive anything for it, we tell you in writing at the time.
General information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Permit and residence rules, thresholds and duties change by legal notice; your notary and your advisers confirm what applies to you. The costs are worked out for any price in the Buyer’s Library.
If you would like someone on your side for any of it.
Read everything here first, and call us only if you want to. When you do, one concierge takes your file from the first call to the keys — or, if you have already found a house through another agency, tells you what we would check before you go further.
Request a private introduction