Residential Building Permits: Q1/2025
- During the first quarter of 2025, 425 building permits for a total of 2,143 new dwellings were approved.
- When compared to the same quarter of 2024, the number of approved new dwellings decreased by 17.4 per cent.
- When compared to Q1 2024, the number of new dwellings approved in Malta decreased by 18.3 per cent, while those in Gozo and Comino went down by 12.7 per cent.
- Apartments made up 72.3 per cent of the total number of approved new dwellings.
- The highest number of approved new dwellings (148) was registered in Ħaż-Żabbar.
Residential Building Permits: Q1/2025
Residential Building Permits: Q1/2025
Approved residential building permits and dwellings
Building permits are authorisations to initiate new building projects. The objective of these statistics is to indicate the future development of construction activity in terms of the number of approved new dwellings.
During the first quarter of 2025, 425 building permits for a total of 2,143 new dwellings were approved (Map 1 and Chart 1). When compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, the number of building permits and approved new dwellings decreased by 7.6 per cent and 17.4 per cent, respectively. The average number of approved new dwellings per building permit stood at 5.0 (Chart 1).
Map 1. Number of approved new dwellings by locality (LAU 2): Q1/2025
Note: Għajnsielem and Comino are classified as one locality. However, no building permits were approved in Comino.
Approved new dwellings by type
The majority of new dwellings approved during the first quarter of 2025 were apartments (1,550), followed by penthouses (326), maisonettes (179), terraced houses (65) and other residential units1 (23) (Table 1). Apartments accounted for 72.3 per cent of the total number of approved new dwellings (Chart 2).
1 “Other” dwelling type includes bungalows, farmhouses and villas.
Chart 2. Distribution of approved new dwellings by type
Approved new dwellings by district
When compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, the number of new dwellings approved in Malta decreased by 18.3 per cent, while those in Gozo and Comino went down by 12.7 per cent. The highest number of approved new dwellings was registered in the Northern Harbour district (559) while the lowest number was recorded in the Western district (222) (Table 2).
Approved new dwellings by locality
The highest number of approved new dwellings was issued for Ħaż-Żabbar (148). This was followed by San Pawl Il-Baħar (137), Iż-Żejtun (88), Ħal Qormi (84) and Birkirkara (81) (Chart 3).
2 Only the top 35 localities are shown in Chart 3. The full list of approved new dwellings by locality may be viewed in the corresponding excel sheet (Table 3).
Methodological Notes
