One of the main questions raised on the sale of Dar Malta was whether in the long run, it would have been more cost-effective to rent or buy the property.

People such as Jason Priestley, secretary general of the European Parliament, Frank Salt, and an estate agency in Brussels believe that it was a good investment to buy the property as, in the long run, more money would have been spent on the rent.

Mr Priestley runs a secretariat with 4,500 employes in Strasbourg and Brussels.

The offices in Brussels are owned by the European Parliament and they were paid off as quickly as possible to prevent extra taxes being imposed on the citizens. If they had continued paying rent or did not speed up payments, he calculated that around Lm450 million more would have to be paid by the European citizens through the European Parliament’s budget.

According to Frank Salt, if Dar Malta is treated as a one time investment, it should never be a burden for the Maltese citizen as it will finance itself. For the property to be cost-effective one has to make certain assumptions among which the part which will be used by the Maltese will save on the rent that would have to be paid if the building is rented against purchased.

This will lead to two sources of income: the rent saved and the money coming from the rented part of the building. These two sources of income will more than compensate the initial amount of money borrowed and interest payed over a period of 25 years (which usually is the long-term period of rent).

A company of estate agents who were not involved in the sale of Dar Malta said that there is a tendency to buy property in Brussels. However there is a problem since most people refuse to sell property as the Schuman area is in the heart of Brussels. Many property owners refuse to sell as they know that the rent will continue to rise, and they have seen this in recent contracts to rent out they have handled. The last two properties they rented out were priced at Lm130 per square metre a year for the offices. The parking spaces were priced at between Lm560 and Lm650 a year.

However, Rue Archimede is not exactly Schuman. If Dar Malta had to be rented out, it could easily get between Lm110 and Lm120 per square metre. Many embassies and countries are looking for property close to where Dar Malta is found as it is within a stone’s throw from Parliament, Commission and the Council of Ministers and people will not need to use public transport or taxis.