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5 NEWS 13.4.2023 Residential property promise of sale agreements up 5.3 per cent in March IN March 2023, the number of final deeds of sale relating to residential property amounted to 1,036, a 12.9 per cent decrease when compared to those registered a year earlier. e value of these deeds totalled €249.1 million, rep- resenting a drop of 4.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding value recorded in March 2022. In the month under review, 963, or 93.0 per cent, of these final deeds of sale involved individual buyers (house- holds), with companies accounting for virtually all the rest. e value of the deeds involving individual buyers (households) amounted to €207.1 mil- lion, equivalent to 83.1 per cent of the total value. Final deeds of sale by district and by locality In March 2023, the highest numbers of final deeds of sale were recorded in the Northern Harbour District and the Northern District, registering a total of 322 and 239 deeds, respectively. At 82 and 122 deeds, the lowest numbers were recorded in the Western District and the Southern Harbour District, re- spectively. e highest number of final deeds of sale were recorded in the following lo- calities: San Pawl il-Baħar (97), Il-Mos- ta (55), Ħaż-Żabbar (41) and Birkirkara (40). e sum of contracts recorded in these localities corresponded to more than 22.0 per cent of the total final deeds of sale registered during March 2023. In the first quarter of 2023, 3,088 final deeds of sale were registered, an annu- al decrease of 9.4 per cent. e value of the deeds registered during this pe- riod went up by 3.2 per cent over the same quarter of the previous year and amounted to €789.9 million. e high- est numbers of final deeds of sale were recorded in the localities of San Pawl Il-Baħar (262), L-Imsida (126) and Il-Mosta (117). Promise of sale agreements In March 2023, 1,172 promise of sale agreements relating to residential property were registered, equivalent to an increase of 5.3 per cent over the previous year. Individual potential buy- ers (households) accounted for 1,058 or 90.3 per cent, of these agreements, while the rest mainly involved compa- nies. The largest number of promise of sale agreements related to residential properties in the Northern Harbour District with 369 agreements, fol- lowed by the Northern District with 201 agreements. On the other hand, the lowest figures of promise of sale agreements were noted in the Western District, and the Gozo and Comino District, at 115 and 143 agreements, respectively. e highest numbers of promise of sale agreements were recorded in the following localities: San Pawl il-Baħar (84), Birkirkara (61), San Ġiljan (53) and Il-Mosta (47). e sum of agreements recorded in these localities exceeded 20.0 per cent of the total amount of promise of sale agreements registered during March 2023. In the first quarter of 2023, the num- ber of promise of sale agreements reached 3,125, representing an annual increase of 14.0 per cent. e highest numbers of promise of sale agreements were recorded in the localities of San Pawl Il-Baħar (252), Birkirkara (166), and Il-Mosta (133). PTL, a technology solutions provider for businesses, has launched a plugin for its Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central customers that enables credit card payment acceptance through in- voices and statements. Designed by its payments specialist sister company Apcopay, the plugin automatically embeds payment links within invoices so that payments can be automated efficiently and effectively. Additionally, Apcopay makes its 240+ alternative payment methods available within the plugin, allowing global cli- ents to offer domestic payments to their own clients. In an example scenario, a UK Business Central client trades with counterparts in Brazil and the Nether- lands: Boleto Bancario, PIX and iDEAL are natural options to settle payments. e new plugin makes international payments such as this seamless. "Our Microsoft Business Central solu- tion is designed to streamline financial management reporting and operations management, providing users with powerful data analysis and dashboard- ing capabilities," Chris Demicoli, Chief Commercial Officer at PTL, said. "e PTL Apcopay plugin helps businesses streamline payment processes, making it easier for their customers to make payments so that less time and effort is directed towards debt collection." Ap- copay Chief Commercial Officer Dan- iel Buttigieg added: "We are pleased to welcome Business Central to the grow- ing list of platforms using our multi-ac- quiring solution that has an exceptional track record of service and reliability with global players in the FMCG, insur- ance, e-commerce, teleco and service industries." Buttigieg announced that Apcopay is soon to launch a platform release to provide additional functionality to mer- chants' finance and operational teams. "Having global access to banks with- out the need to build and maintain inte- grations has been one of the key drivers of our market offering. We look forward to continue to offer additional automa- tion to the B2B and B2C world through our unified payments platform." PTL integrates Apcopay plugin for instant payments in Microsoft Dynamics Business Central PTL Chief Commercial Officer Chris Demicoli (left) and Daniel Buttigieg, Chief Commercial Officer of Apcopay

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