Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1140832
11.07.19 3 NEWS MASSIMO COSTA THE Property Price Index (PPI) in- creased by 6.5% during the fi rst quarter of 2019 compared to the corresponding period last year. Provisional fi gures indicate that the main driver behind the increase was a rise in the price of apartments, although maisonette prices were also up. e fi gures, released by the National Statistics Offi ce on Wednesday, indi- cate that Q1 2019's year-on-year PPI rise was greater than the 5.3% increase registered in Q1 2018 compared to the same quarter of 2017. e PPI covers apartments, maison- ettes and terraced houses only, and is compiled on the basis of the median price for each dwelling type. According to Eurostat fi gures also re- leased yesterday, the price of property is up by 4% in both the euro area and the EU in Q1 2019 compared to Q1 2019. Property prices down in Q1 2019 compared to last three months of 2018 e Eurostat fi gures show, however, that when compared to the last three months of 2018, the fi rst quarter of 2019 saw a 4.2% decrease in the price of property in Malta. e drop was the largest recorded in the European Union for the period. is is refl ected in the NSO data, which indicate a PPI of 118.53 for Q1 2019 compared to a PPI of 123.68 for 2018's last quarter. Across the EU, the highest increases in Q1 2019 compared with the previ- ous quarter were recorded in Hungary (+3.7%), Portugal (+3.6%) and Croatia (+3.5%). e largest decreases were observed in Malta (-4.2%), the United Kingdom (-1.3%) and Ireland (-1%). e local fi gures appear to confi rm the sentiments relayed to BusinessToday earlier this year by property sector pun- dits, who said that the market appeared to have somewhat stabilised in 2019. Malta Developers' Association pres- ident Sandro Chetcuti had said that the property craze had started to ease somewhat. Echoing similar views, Sensara Malta founder Janice Azzopardi had said that market prices started to calm down from the start of 2019. Property prices up 6.5% in first three months of 2019 Compared to the last three months of 2018, property prices register decrease in rst quarter of 2019 FROM PAGE 1 At the end of 2018, the sector employed more than 12,000 people, 1,000 of which were new jobs generated last year. is brings the share of local employment within the fi nan- cial services sector up to 5.3%, almost double that recorded for other member states of the Eu- ropean Union, which stands at 2.9%. e MFSA recently carried out a major restructuring ex- ercise to strengthen its organi- sational capability and prepare it for future challenges, under CEO Joseph Cuschieri. 2018 also saw the coming into force of the Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) Act, which meant that Malta was a trailblazer in the world of distributed ledger technologies and digital assets. e MFSA also took regula- tory action against Pilatus Bank and Satabank plc for prudential and money laundering breach- es. It also demerged the Registry of Companies from the MFSA so that the MFSA can focus better on its regulatory role and duties. e registry has es- tablished itself as a standalone agency and is now known as the Malta Business Registry (MBA). As part of its supervisory ac- tivity, the MFSA kept its focus on the need to ensure market trust and improve the stabili- ty and integrity of the fi nancial system in Malta. CEO Joseph Cuschieri ex- plained in 2018 the authority's work focused on restructur- ing the MFSA's organisational structure to strengthen its gov- ernance, culture and conduct; combating money laundering and terrorist fi nancing; embrac- ing technological innovation; and re-positioning the MFSA as a leading employer. "In view of the wide-ranging impact of money laundering and terrorist fi nancing, an issue which has international rami- fi cations, the Authority will be strengthening its supervisory engagement, with the purpose of achieving our statutory ob- jectives better, and this will, in turn, safeguard the reputation of Malta as a jurisdiction of choice for fi nancial services. Whilst supervisory engagement shall be enhanced across the board, emphasis shall be placed on AML/CFT Supervision, in line with our AML/CFT Super- visory Strategy," Cuschieri said. 1,000 new jobs in financial services created in 2018, bringing total to over 12,000 The MFSA recently carried out a major restructuring exercise