Malta - British Expat Forum

Hi,

A friend of mine is considering purchasing an apartment at Fort Chambray in Gozo. I believe there is some controversy surrounding this development. Is there any reason why this may not be a good investment? Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

I don't think property is a good investment in Gozo right now in general - there is massive over supply of property, with 1000s of properties either unoccupied, or semi finished. As for Fort Chambray, I don't like the development as its like a semi-gated community, and not what most people want out of Gozo. Don't know if prices are more realistic now, but they were very high by Gozitan standards earlier this year.

Does your friend want to rent it out or live in it ?

There was a discussion on Fort Chambray in the following
http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/malta/viewtopic.php?t=8718&highlight=Chambray

Hi gozomark, he is looking for a place to live, is in his mid 60's and single. He likes the idea of Fort Chanbray since he felt that there would be some opportunity to socialize with other residents and wouldnt be as lonely in a traditional apartment. Do you belive Malta is any better an investment that Gozo?

The risk with Fort Chambray is that there may be few permanent residents, and those that are will not be typical Gozo residents. If the appeal to living in Gozo is the lifestyle, then why live in somewhere like Fort Chambray, which is as divorced from real Gozo life as you can get ?

I don't see loneliness being an issue in most of Gozo.

Malta a better investment ? Yields certainly seem higher, and vacancies lower, but still looks expensive to me

I would agree that fort chambray is not a great idea to buy. The place is only partialy built now and is basically deserted. Although there are plans to complete the entire project I would not count on it. gozomark is right that it would be a rather isolated and really with all the available properties in Gozo why buy there. One could have the pick of hundreds of nice places, cheaper and in a real village.

This is probably a bit outdated now, but we've just come back from Gozo and took a drive round the Chambray. It was gorgeous, and as a Gozitinian myself would love to live there! Unfortunately at bettwen 500,000 and 1.5m Euros its a little out of our price league. I'll def be keeping an eye out for holiday lets there though!
I could imagine it being lonely to live there though as, due to the cost of the accomodation, not many of the properties are lived in, we saw 1 house with residents in.
The pool was brilliant!

Although we are renting, from what I've seen Malta & Gozo are easy places to buy.......and damn hard places to sell.

With too many vacant properties on either island I would caution any buyer to think long and hard before committing.

Sorry, that sounds as if I'm against buying, not so

Just think, "could I afford to have an empty property on the market for a year or two if my circumstances should suddenly change?"

I would agree. Just moved here from Ireland; yes the country with the worlds biggest property bubble since Japan's 80s fun. All I see and "feel" reminds me of good old Eire of 2003/4, that's just a couple of years before the prices went down a nice slippy slide and have yet to stop! I'm not saying the same will happen here, as prices seem to be sofetning (in Ireland they jumped 30% in the last 2 years before the slide), but caution and patience would seem to be the order of the day here at present. Just my 2 pence worth

All the Irish folk I know here are renting, just like myself

it's all we poor paddys can afford now!!