Sliema and St Julian's continued to command the highest apartment prices in Malta during 2025, while Gozo's Xewkija and Sannat remained the country's most affordable localities, according to new estimates published by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The publication presents quality-adjusted estimates of apartment price levels across Maltese and Gozitan localities, based on actual property transactions.
Rather than measuring price growth over time, the estimates compare each locality's average apartment price per square metre against the national average for the same year, which is set at an index value of 100.
A price level of 120, for example, indicates that apartments in a locality are estimated to be 20% more expensive per square metre than the national average, while a value of 80 means they are around 20% cheaper.
Sliema retains top position
With a price level of 160.98, Sliema ranked as Malta's most expensive locality for apartments in 2025, meaning prices per square metre were almost 61% above the national average.
It was closely followed by St Julian's, which registered a price level of 157.43.
The remainder of the top 10 consisted largely of established central and northern localities, including Pembroke (142.62), Swieqi (139.46), and Gharghur (128.32).
Several of these localities have consistently ranked among Malta's most expensive residential markets over recent years, reflecting sustained demand for apartments in established urban and suburban areas.
Gozo remains significantly cheaper
At the opposite end of the scale, Xewkija recorded the country's lowest apartment price level at 57.14, followed by Sannat at 62.74 and Rabat, Gozo at 63.41.
Other relatively affordable localities included Xagħra (65.24), Għajnsielem and Comino (70.06), and Nadur (71.38).
The NSO estimates also highlight the persistent gap between Malta and Gozo.
For 2025, apartments in Malta recorded an overall price level of 103.55, compared with 68.01 for Gozo and Comino. This indicates that apartment prices per square metre in Malta were generally more than 30% higher than those in Gozo and Comino.
Limited movement at the top
While rankings remained broadly stable between 2024 and 2025, there were some notable shifts.
St Julian's strengthened its position, with its price level rising from 143.54 in 2024 to 157.43 in 2025, narrowing the gap with Sliema.
Ta' Xbiex also recorded a notable increase, climbing from 108.66 to 122.58, moving into sixth place nationally.
By contrast, Pembroke eased slightly from 145.99 to 142.62, while Għargħur declined from 135.04 to 128.32. Despite these reductions, both localities remained among Malta's highest-priced apartment markets.
Among mid-priced localities, St Paul's Bay rose modestly from 93.42 to 95.74, while Marsaskala increased from 96.04 to 99.32, almost reaching the national average.
Understanding the estimates
The NSO stressed that these figures are derived using a hedonic modelling approach, which adjusts for differences in apartment characteristics to provide more comparable estimates of price per square metre across localities. The analysis is based on actual property transactions, while penthouses are excluded.
To help users interpret the results, each locality is assigned a variability category - low, moderate or most variability - reflecting the degree of variation around the estimated prices. Localities with too few transactions are suppressed to protect statistical reliability.
The office also emphasised that these estimates are not directly comparable with the Residential Property Price Index (RPPI). While the RPPI measures changes in prices over time relative to a fixed base year, the locality estimates compare each area's apartment prices against the national average within the same reference year.