The Individual Investor Program regulations oblige the main applicant to invest in a residential immovable property in Malta, either by acquiring and holding one having a minimum value of €350,000 or by taking one on lease for a minimum annual rent of sixteen thousand euro (€16,000).
According to the 2017 Annual report published by Malta, since 2016 about 80 properties have been purchased while 483 properties leased in Malta to apply for citizenship.
This means 85% of IIP applicants prefer the leasing route and only 15% chose to buy a property.
Buying a Property under IIP scheme
The most popular locality for purchased properties was St Julians, closely followed by Sliema (which was the favourite one during the previous twelve months).
Between July 2016 and June 2017 the value of the 46 purchased properties amounted to €35,284,168.97, averaging €767,047.15 per property. Such average is significantly above the minimum threshold of €350,000 set in the IIP Regulations.
Globally taking into consideration all the properties purchased since the launch of the IIP the value of all purchased property (82) totals €71,190,233.31 averaging €868,173.58 per property.
Property Leasing under IIP scheme
Property leasing was spread over 30 different localities. In Sliema 38% of properties was leased. The second most popular locality was St Julians and 4% of the properties were leased in Gozo.
In the case of leased property the rental value for the duration of the 5-year contract is projected to be €33,659,279.80 averaging €98,997.88 per contract. On an annual basis this translates into an average of €19,799.58 per lease. Similar to the situation regarding purchased property, the average is significantly higher than the minimum threshold of €16,000 per year as set in the IIP regulations.
Globally (taking into consideration all the properties leased since the launch of the IIP) all 484 leased property would add up to €51,131,040.45, averaging €105,642.64 per leased property which, in turn, translates into an annual average rental value of €21,128.53.
