European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey 2024 reported that 66.4% of all households owning their main dwelling.

"Home ownership was the most common type of tenure status in 2024, with 66.4% of all households owning their main dwelling. Of these, 48.1% were outright owners, meaning that they either never had a mortgage on their main dwelling or have repaid their debt in full. A higher share of homeowners was registered among households with dependent children, which stood at 69.1%, as opposed to households without dependent children, whose share was 65.4%. A different trend was observed among rented main dwellings, whereby 30.6% of households were without dependent children. On the other hand, 27.3% of households renting their main dwelling had dependent children."

EU-SILC is an annual panel survey that collects information on the income and living conditions of private households in Malta and Gozo. In 2024, a total of 4,538 households were interviewed.

In 2024, 65.7% of all inhabited dwellings in Malta and Gozo were either apartments or maisonettes, while 30.9% were semi-detached or terraced houses. Results show that the largest proportion of main dwellings (34.8%) contained five rooms. This was followed by 22.8% of main dwellings which were composed of four rooms, and a further 20.1% had six rooms, the NSO said.

According to EU-SILC, during 2024, 4.4% of all those living in private households lived in overcrowded households. The overcrowding rate is defined by the number of rooms available in the household in relation to the household's size and other demographics, it said.

Housing costs were perceived to constitute a slight burden for 52.8% of all persons living in households. A further 22.3% considered these costs to be a heavy burden, while for the remaining 24.9%, they were of no burden at all, the NSO said.

"Furthermore, 76.5% of persons who were severely materially deprived, considered housing costs to be a heavy burden. In contrast, only 41% of people who were at-risk-of-poverty considered housing costs to be a heavy burden."

As reported by 37.6% of respondents, the most common housing issues were considered to be pollution, grime, or other environmental problems. Noise from neighbours or from the street, was the second most mentioned problem as experienced by a further 34% of the surveyed households, the NSO said.