During the second quarter of 2026, a total of 3,126 new dwellings were approved, registering an increase of 3.3 per cent when compared to the same quarter of 2025, the NSO said Thursday.

Approved residential building permits and dwellings

Building permits are authorisations to initiate new building projects. The objective of these statistics is to indicate the future development of construction activity in terms of the number of approved new dwellings.

During the second quarter of 2026, 539 building permits for a total of 3,126 new dwellings were approved. When compared to the corresponding quarter of 2025, the number of building permits decreased by 9.9 per cent, while the number of approved new dwellings increased by 3.3 per cent. The average number of approved new dwellings per building permit stood at 5.8.

The majority of new dwellings approved during the second quarter of 2026 were apartments (2,253), followed by penthouses (464), maisonettes (295), terraced houses (93) and other residential units (21). Apartments accounted for 72.1 per cent of the total number of approved new dwellings.

Approved new dwellings by district

When compared to the corresponding quarter of 2025, the number of new dwellings approved in Malta increased by 4.6 per cent, while those in Gozo and Comino went down by 5.1 per cent. The highest number of approved new dwellings was registered in the Northern Harbour district (1,122), while the lowest number was recorded in the Western district (225).

Approved new dwellings by locality

The highest number of approved new dwellings was issued forSt Paul's Bay (258). This was followed by Birkirkara (256), Msida (164), Safi (133) and Mosta (130).