Farrugia noted that a few thousand euro a year in income can make all the difference in terms of the type of property a couple can afford.

“If a 27-year-old couple has an accumulated salary of €40,000 they will be able to purchase a property of €340,000, but if they only earn €15,000 each, the loan value will shrink to €220,000. While a combined salary of €30,000 isn’t bad and close to the average salary, you will struggle to find a property worth €220,000 in the current market.”

“A difference of €5,000 a year can mean all the difference between a comfortable and affordable property and a property with limitations for those seeking to grow a family. This is the fine line couples must navigate.”

Meanwhile, he warned that rent prices in Malta are extremely expensive compared to the value of property and that youths who decide to rent will find it harder to save up enough money to buy a property.

Farrugia suggested property prices are intrinsically linked to Malta’s birth rate problem, which at 1.13 children per woman is the lowest in Europe. 

“I believe the main reason Malta’s birth rate is so low is the affordability of having children. Due to huge international challenges, families are facing significant burdens and it is not easy financially to raise a child these days,” he pointed out.

“Besides home loan repayments, the cost of child medicine, food and milk has increased substantially. Many young families would like to have more children but when you consider the home loan, home costs and travel expenses, do they have enough disposable income to live a good life with more than one child?”

“It’s not true that youths don’t want a family or more children. The truth is that it’s become difficult. We are a fundamentally traditional country that treasures family values, which contradicts with our position as the lowest birth rate in Europe. I don’t believe it’s a lack of will, but economic circumstances, that led to this result.”

“Perhaps property prices aren’t the only reason but it’s an integral part of our reality. We are doing much more and living less, we are working much more and living less, we are rushing much more and living less.”

He warned that if Malta doesn’t seek to increase its birth rate, its economy will grow even more reliant on foreign workers than it currently is.

“The economy needs, and will continue needing, foreign workers, but are we trying to increase our birth rate so that we won’t be so dependent on them in the future and so that the Maltese economy can be sustainable without importing workers?”

“We must think of youths when drafting property policies and we must improve current policies to ensure aid truly reaches couples’ pockets and doesn’t cause property to become more expensive.”

Although he said he wholly trusts Prime Minister Robert Abela to address this significant problem, he warned his party not to take the loyalty of youths from traditional Labour families for granted.

“The time of taking youths’ votes for granted because their parents had voted for the party is over. Blind loyalty is shrinking generation by generation, which is good for democracy.”

Do you think property in Malta has become too expensive?