Malta's first-time buyer guide — stamp duty, grants & live listings

The legal basis is subsidiary legislation S.L. 364.12, made under Article 23 of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, Cap. 364 and most recently amended by Legal Notice 305 of 2025. To claim the exemption at the deed, you generally need to satisfy three conditions:

• Citizenship and residence. Maltese citizens qualify automatically. EU and EEA citizens qualify if they are ordinarily resident in Malta — the threshold used for personal income tax residence. Most non-EU/EEA nationals will not qualify unless specific residency or permit conditions are met, and typically buy via the Special Designated Area (SDA) route or with an AIP permit. Your notary will confirm your specific position.
• No prior residential acquisition. You must not have previously acquired a residential immovable property by lifetime transfer. Inheriting a property in full will generally disqualify you; minor inherited shares may not, but inheritance treatment is fact-specific (usufruct vs bare ownership, for example) and must be confirmed by a notary case by case. Garages, fields and other non-residential acquisitions do not count.
• Primary residence intent. The property must be acquired to be your sole, ordinary residence — not a second home, not a buy-to-let. The intent is declared on the public deed and tested against your residence in practice during the first five years.

If you are buying jointly (e.g. with a partner or spouse), each co-purchaser is assessed independently against the first-time buyer test and the exemption is applied on a pro-rata basis according to each buyer's share of the property — per MTCA guidance. On a 50/50 purchase where only one party qualifies, the qualifying buyer's 50% share still benefits from the exemption; the non-qualifying buyer pays the standard duty on their 50% share. Worked example at €400,000, 50/50: the first-time buyer's €200,000 share attracts €0 in duty (within the €200,000 exemption band), while a non-qualifying co-purchaser pays the standard 5% on their €200,000 share — €10,000. The exact outcome depends on deed structure, share allocations, prior-ownership history (including inherited shares), the matrimonial regime, and ordinary-residence status — your notary confirms the final calculation before the konvenju.

Stamp duty in Malta is charged on the higher of the contract price or the property's open-market value, as agreed with the notary and ultimately the Commissioner for Tax and Customs (MTCA). Before 28 October 2025, first-time buyers paid a reduced rate of 3.5% on the first €200,000 and 5% on the excess. From 28 October 2025, that 3.5% became 0% — a full exemption on the first €200,000 — under Legal Notice 305 of 2025, the amending instrument issued under Article 23 of the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act (Cap. 364).

Worked examples at 2026 rates:

• €180,000 apartment. Duty: €0. (Full value under the €200,000 ceiling.) Non-first-time buyer would pay €9,000.
• €280,000 maisonette. Duty: €4,000 (5% × €80,000 over the ceiling). Non-first-time buyer would pay €14,000. Saving: €10,000.
• €450,000 townhouse. Duty: €12,500 (5% × €250,000 over the ceiling). Non-first-time buyer would pay €22,500. Saving: €10,000.

The €10,000 maximum saving is hit at any price ≥ €200,000 — the relief caps at the ceiling. Below €200,000 the saving is exactly 5% of the contract price (since the duty would otherwise have been 5% of the whole value).

A provisional payment of duty is commonly collected at the konvenju (promise of sale, registered by the notary within 21 days), with the balance settled at the public deed. The exact apportionment between the two stages is administrative practice rather than a fixed statutory share, so the amount your notary requests at the konvenju can vary — confirm it when you brief them. The first-time declaration is made at the deed stage: your notary fills the relevant section, claims the exemption, and lodges the deed with the Capital Transfer Duty unit at the Inland Revenue Department within the prescribed deadlines.

Stamp duty is not the only acquisition cost — budget separately for notary fees (typically 1–2% of price), the architect's structural survey, ground rent perpetual (if any), bank arrangement fees, and life-and-buildings insurance. Pedament's live listings under €200k let you screen against the FTB ceiling instantly.

The First-Home Financial Support (FHFS) is administered by the Housing Authority, not the Inland Revenue Department, and is distinct from the first-time buyer duty exemption. The two stack: you can claim the duty exemption at the deed and the FHFS grant separately, for the same purchase.

The mechanics:

• Amount. €10,000 in total, paid as €1,000 per year for 10 years.
• Eligible window. The first property must have been acquired on or after 1 January 2022. The scheme has been confirmed in Budget 2026 and remains open in 2026.
• Eligibility. Applicant must be aged 18 or over, a first-time buyer, and the property must be intended as the buyer's primary residence.
• Bank loan required. The property must have been purchased with a home loan from a Maltese bank — the FHFS is structured to offset annual mortgage outgoings. Cash buyers do not qualify.
• Application and annual filing. Apply through the Housing Authority's online portal after signing the deed, by April of the year following purchase. Each year thereafter, submit an original bank statement of your loan account by March to release that year's €1,000 instalment.
• Combined effect. At €200,000 purchase price, the FHFS adds €10,000 over 10 years to the stamp duty saving (also €10,000 at this price band), for total relief of €20,000 — roughly equivalent to a 10% deposit on a €200,000 home.

The grant requires the property to remain the recipient's primary residence and the home loan to remain in place over the 10-year payment window. Selling, renting out, or paying off the loan in full can stop the instalments or trigger a clawback — confirm conditions with the Housing Authority at application.

The Maltese property transaction has three named stages — offer, konvenju (promise of sale), and kuntratt (public deed). Each is independently legally significant.

1. Offer accepted. Verbal or written agreement on price. Not legally binding. Choose a notary (the buyer's prerogative in Malta) before moving to konvenju — the same notary handles both stages.
2. Konvenju signed (week 1–2). A binding promise of sale, registered by the notary within 21 days. You pay a 10% deposit to the seller, the agent's commission (if structured that way), and a provisional payment of stamp duty agreed with the notary — the amount is administrative practice rather than a fixed statutory share, so check what your notary will request when you brief them. The notary commissions the title search, the architect's structural survey, and the planning-permit history check.
3. Bridging period (weeks 2–12). The notary clears any title defects, the bank completes mortgage underwriting (if any), and you firm up insurance. Most konvenjus give 3 months to the deed; 6 months is achievable by mutual agreement if a complication surfaces.
4. Public deed signed (month 3–5). Property title transfers. You pay the balance of the price, the balance of stamp duty, and the notary's professional fee. Your notary declares first-time buyer status on the deed — this is the moment the exemption applies — and lodges the deed with the Inland Revenue Department's Capital Transfer Duty unit within the prescribed deadlines.

For bank financing, lenders typically prefer mortgage sanctioning to be substantively progressed before the konvenju is signed, though in practice many buyers sign the konvenju "subject to sanction" — that is, with a financing condition that lets them walk away (and recover the deposit) if the loan is declined. The mortgage deed is then signed alongside the public deed once the loan is fully approved. Loan-to-value caps from the Central Bank of Malta apply — the current first-residence ceiling is 90% LTV, so plan for at least a 10% deposit beyond the duty and fees. Apply for the FHFS grant separately after the deed; it is not bound to the closing timeline.

The five pitfalls Pedament hears most often from first-time buyers:

• Forgetting the 5% band above €200,000. The exemption ceiling is €200,000 — duty on every euro above that is 5%. A €350,000 purchase still owes €7,500 in duty. Budget the 5% upfront, not at the deed.
• Skipping the structural survey. Older Maltese stock often has hidden issues — failed waterproofing, undeclared additions, missing planning permits for past works. The €400–€800 cost of an architect's survey is the cheapest insurance you will buy on the entire transaction.
• Misreading the relief on joint purchases. The first-time buyer exemption is applied pro-rata according to each buyer's share of the property, per MTCA guidance — not as an all-or-nothing test on the transaction. Buy 50/50 with a partner who has previously owned, and your 50% share still qualifies; their 50% share is taxed at the standard rate. The pitfall is assuming the relief is lost entirely (it isn't) or that the whole property qualifies (it doesn't). Have your notary work the calculation against the actual deed shares and matrimonial regime before the konvenju.
• Renting the property out within the 5-year window. The exemption is conditional on the property remaining your sole ordinary residence. Renting it out — including short-let on a Malta Tourism Authority licence — within five years may trigger a review and clawback of the exempted duty, potentially with interest. Discuss any planned change of use with your notary or tax adviser first.
• Assuming the €10,000 grant is automatic. The FHFS grant requires a separate application to the Housing Authority after the deed is signed. Missed applications mean a foregone €10,000.

For a wider view of the Maltese market before you make an offer, see our live market data and the NSO transaction numbers. If you might move up rather than buy your first, jump straight to the second-time buyer guide.