Opposition wants prime minister to hold housing minister to account over Gozo property bought below market prices

The Nationalist Party has asked the prime minister to explain how Housing Minister Roderick Galdes purchased a duplex penthouse in Gozo for €140,000, far below current market prices, whilst young families face an escalating housing affordability crisis.

"It is striking that, in the same week a property market study showed how it has become practically impossible for young families and first-time buyers to keep up with ever-rising housing prices, Roderick Galdes purchased a duplex penthouse for €140,000, a price far below what ordinary people are being forced to pay for their first home," PN housing spokesperson Ivan Bartolo said.

Galdes’s purchase was flagged in The Sunday Times of Malta. The minister told the newspaper that he had booked the price some years ago when paying a deposit on the property when it was still on plan.

Only this week a KPMG and Malta Development Association study revealed the average apartment price now stands at €414,000, an increase of approximately €40,000 in just one year.

The study found that penthouse properties average €555,000, making Galdes's purchase price roughly four times lower than the current market rate.

According to reports, Galdes signed the contract earlier this year for the property in Rabat, Gozo. It includes a garage, airspace and rooftop jacuzzi.

The minister reportedly secured the favourable price because the property was purchased in shell form and was booked before construction began in 2021.

The property was bought from a property development company that includes Joseph Portelli among its shareholders.

The same report disclosed that this is Galdes' second property in Gozo, as he also owns a house in Xagħra.

Additionally, the Galdes owns properties in Qormi, Luqa, and an apartment in Middlesex in the United Kingdom, as well as land and a house in Sicily, and another property in Siġġiewi.

Galdes is currently under investigation by the Auditor General following a formal request by the Nationalist Party to examine allegations of political interference within Malita Investments.

The allegations were made by former Labour MEP and former Malita chairperson Marlene Mizzi, who claimed the minister was favouring certain contractors and interfered in Malita’s business. 

Mizzi stated she was removed from her position after raising these concerns.

Galdes has denied the claims.

Malita Investments is a company that purchases, develops and manages properties in multi-million-euro projects of national importance, including social accommodation developments. The State holds an 80% shareholding in the company.

A separate request has been made by Momentum for an investigation by the Standards Commissioner concerning the minister’s Gozo property purchase.

Bartolo called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to take action against Galdes and to publicly declare whether such conduct by a senior Cabinet member is acceptable.

"Above all, Robert Abela must explain to young people and first-time buyers in Malta why they are having to work day and night to buy their first home, take on heavy bank loans and rely on parental assistance just to have a chance of becoming homeowners, and why, even then, they are paying prices far higher than the extraordinarily advantageous amount paid by Minister Roderick Galdes," Bartolo said.