Planning Authority approved 26 new dwellings a day in 2022, NSO figures show

The Planning Authority approved 9,523 new dwellings in 2022, 2,000 more than the previous year and equating to an average of 26 new houses every day.

This also means that in a single year, the number of new dwellings approved by the PA was higher than the total number of occupied dwellings in Birkirkara in 2011.

Moreover, in 2022 a total of 1,889 dwellings were approved in Gozo.

A dwelling is a residential unit, which means that a single permit could cover multiple dwellings such as in the case of apartment blocks.

The 2022 figures released by the National Statistics Office on Tuesday, represent the highest number of approved dwellings since the pandemic.

The number of new approved dwellings reached an all-time high of 12,885 in 2018, remaining steady at 12,485 in 2019. New dwellings dropped to 7,831 in 2020 and 7,578 in 2021, during the pandemic.

In an indication that the pandemic decline has been reversed the total number of dwellings approved in 2022 is the fifth highest since 2000.

Over the past five years the PA has issued permits for 50,302 new dwellings, or 28 new dwellings every single day.

Statistics issued by the NSO show that during the last quarter of 2022, 357 building permits for a total of 2,064 new dwellings where issued bringing the total of the year to 9,523.

When compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021, the number of new dwellings approved in Malta and Gozo increased by 35% and 26.5% respectively. The highest number of approved new dwellings was registered in the South-Eastern district (515) while the lowest number was recorded in the Western district (210).

The locality with the largest number of new dwellings approved in the last quarter of 2022 was Marsaskala with 203 new dwellings.

Significantly, the second highest number of dwellings was approved in Rabat, Gozo where 188 new dwellings were approved, slightly more than the 185 dwellings approved in St Paul’s Bay.

Statistics show that permits for new dwellings shot up from 3,970 in 2000 to peak at 11,343 in 2007. Subsequently, the number of permits declined to just 2,707 in 2013 before rising to 7,508 in 2016.

The surge in approval of new dwellings between 2005 and 2007 coincided with a relaxation of building heights in urban areas. It also coincided with Malta gearing up for adoption of the single European currency, when more people started channelling their undeclared money into property development, fuelling a boom.

The surge in permits after 2015 coincided with a relaxation in planning regulations through design guidelines which effectively superseded height limitations enshrined in local plans, and higher rates of economic growth, which contrast with the economic downturn between 2008 and 2013. Since 2000, the PA has issued 157,303 permits for new dwellings.