Leonid McKay, the Executive Chair of the Housing Authority explained that one of the toughest obstacles when it comes to housing in Malta are faced by those who are not in the income bracket for social housing benefits, cannot afford the property prices of today’s market and due to their age, find it difficult to acquire a bank loan. 

Bank loans are generally harder to obtain the older an individual gets and this is why the scheme was initially made for persons aged 40 and over. However, it was noted that this same difficulty is faced by people between the ages of 30 and 40.

Beside this, the target population of the Equity Scheme are people who are separated with or without children.

During the conference, McKay briefed the listeners with some statistics mainly indicative of the past two years of the scheme’s operation.

In fact, in the last two years, the average age of applicants was 47-years-old and the annual income of the majority of applicants was between €15,000 and €25,000 – people below and above this income bracket still applied for the scheme.

Meanwhile, the scheme received around 230 applicants in the last two years.

For some background, the Equity Sharing scheme has been active since 2019 and they just recently extended it, while amending the aforementioned criteria and the income bracket.

In essence, the Equity Sharing scheme provides adequate yet affordable options to aid families and individuals in building a stable future.

By helping these individuals in buying a property together with the government, these beneficiaries have the opportunity to get a loan from the bank so that they can actually buy a property that’s in line with their pay and assets, while the Housing Authority will pay for up to half of the property.

The maximum value of a property that can be bought via this scheme will remain €200,000 and the beneficiary would need to be able to pay a 10% deposit at the promise of sale.  

Here’s another statistic for you; the median amount awarded to beneficiaries these past two years amounts to around €175,000.

Couples and individuals who are between the ages of 30 and 34 are eligible for the scheme if their annual income does not exceed €25,000. Whilst individuals who are aged between 35 and 39 may apply to the scheme if their income does not exceed €30,000.