Fact-check Malta: Do 90% of under-35s own their own homes?

Prime Minister Robert Abela’s recent claim that nine out of ten people under the age of 35 own their home drew widespread scepticism, with many taking to social media to express their incredulity.

Abela made the claim while discussing the broader issue of housing affordability in an interview with Lovin Malta journalist Yannick Pace, aired on Sunday January 10.

Abela said that while roughly 81% of Maltese own their own home, the rate among young people is even higher.

“When it comes to youths, people under the age of 35, we have just collected data through the Central Bank that shows that nine out of every ten people, 90%, own their own home,” Abela told Pace.

He said this compares favourably with the rest of Europe, where the rate is under 40%.

Abela appears to have based his claim on a paper published late last year in which the newly-appointed Central Bank governor, Alexander Demarco, discussed housing affordability.

In that paper, Demarco wrote “whereas in 2014 home ownership among the Maltese in the 16 to 34 age cohort stood at almost 81%, by 2023 it increased to 91%, three times as much in the EU”.

What data is Abela referring to?

Abela, just like Demarco before him, is referring to figures from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, a study regularly carried out by Central Banks across Europe to track the changes in wealth, assets and expenses of households in their respective countries.

In practice, this study asks participants to disclose information about their wealth, listing, among other things, their assets such as properties, vehicles, and other valuables. The study is held regularly in each Euro area country, with the most recent wave being carried out in 2023.

A spokesperson for the Central Bank told Times of Malta that the findings from Malta’s 2023 study are still under wraps, with plans for them to be published over the coming weeks.

Findings from the previous waves of the study, including the previous edition carried out in 2021, remain available on the Central Bank’s website.

Does the study find that 91% of people under 35 own their home?

Not quite.

The Central Bank spokesperson confirmed that the as-yet-unpublished findings do indeed show that “home ownership among Maltese households aged under 35 is now 91%”.

However, they added a crucial caveat: the study looks at households, not individuals.

So, in practice, the study does not try to find out how many individuals under the age of 35 own their home, it simply shows that in households in which all members are under the age of 35, 91% of them own the property.

“Please note that all HFCS data is based on households,” the Central Bank spokesperson told Times of Malta. “Thus, the 91% does not mean that 91% of all those aged under 35 own the residence where they live. Rather it signifies that of those households where the members are aged under 35, 91% own their main residence. A considerable amount of those aged under 35 would still be part of another household”.

In a statement issued on Thursday January 15, the Central Bank added that the study “is a survey that deals exclusively with households and not individuals, and therefore use of such survey results can only refer to households and not individuals”.

I’m confused, what does this mean?

Let’s break this down through two scenarios.

In one scenario, a young couple, both under the age of 35, move in together. The data suggests that in 91% of such cases, the couple would own the property.

In the second scenario, the same couple choose not to move in together, instead staying put with their middle-aged parents. In this case, the couple do not appear in the 91% figure at all, since they are not in a household in which all members are under the age of 35. Instead, they are counted as part of other households, over the age of 35.

What this means in practice is that the 91% figure cited by Abela does not factor in anybody who is part of a household with others over the age of 35.

This effectively rules out large swathes of people under the age of 35, many of whom still typically live with their parents and, consequently, are not part of this 91% figure.

The Central Bank spokesperson added that EU data published last Spring shows that Maltese tend to leave their parental home at the age of 28, well after many of their peers across Europe have flown the nest.

More broadly, official data published in October showed that roughly two-thirds of people in Malta owned their own home, although this figure is heavily skewed by the influx of foreigners in recent years, many of whom tend to rent.

According to figures from the National Statistics Office, around 82% of Maltese own their own homes, compared to just 24% of foreign residents.

However, this data does not break down home ownership by age.

Verdict

The 91% figure is taken from a study carried out by the Central Bank in 2023. The findings from this study have not yet been published.

However, the study looks into households, not individuals.

The 91% figure cited by Abela means that in households in which all members are under the age of 35, 91% of them own their home.

A spokesperson from the Central Bank confirmed that the figure does not mean that 91% of all people under the age of 35 own their home.

The claim is therefore misleading as, although the claim may, in itself, be partly or entirely true, it is presented in a manner that is not representative of the facts within a broader context.