Most people in Malta perceive their housing costs as a burden, according to the National Statistics Office’s EU-SILC 2024 findings released on 13 October 2025. The survey reports that 22.3% of persons living in private households consider their total housing costs a heavy burden, while 52.8% describe them as a slight burden. Only 24.9% say these costs are not a burden at all.

The data reveal marked differences across social groups. Among people who are severely materially deprived, 76.5% perceive housing costs as a heavy burden. In contrast, 41.0% of those at risk of poverty report housing costs as a heavy burden, indicating that the severest deprivation is closely tied to pressure from housing expenses. The NSO defines housing costs to include mortgage interest, rent, structural insurances, utilities, and regular maintenance and repairs.

Overall, home ownership remains the most common tenure, with 66.4% of households owning their main dwelling. Of these, 48.1% are outright owners, meaning they never had a mortgage or have fully repaid it. Households with dependent children have a slightly higher home-ownership rate (69.1%) than those without dependent children (65.4%). Meanwhile, 30.6% of households without dependent children rent their main dwelling, compared with 27.3% among households with dependent children. The tenure patterns provide important context but do not negate the broad finding that housing costs are widely felt as a strain.

The EU-SILC survey also captures the broader housing environment. In 2024, 65.7% of inhabited dwellings were apartments or maisonettes, and 30.9% were semi-detached or terraced houses. The largest share of main dwellings (34.8%) had five rooms. Overcrowding—defined in relation to household size and the number of available rooms—affected 4.4% of people living in private households. These structural features frame daily experience but, as the NSO data show, the perceived affordability of housing remains the more immediate pressure point for most households.

Quality-of-life indicators add further texture. Pollution, grime or other environmental problems are reported by 37.6% of respondents, while 34.0% cite noise from neighbours or the street as an issue. These concerns, combined with the widespread perception of housing costs as burdensome, depict a housing landscape in which affordability and amenity both demand attention. The 2024 EU-SILC survey covered 4,538 households in Malta and Gozo.