Homebuyer

First-Time Buyer Scheme

Issued by Housing Authority

A €10,000 grant, paid in yearly instalments over 10 years, for people who bought their first home.

€10,000 total, paid as €1,000/year over 10 years, disbursed each June

Apply on the official site

You’ll be taken to the scheme’s official page.

Overview

Buying a first home rarely gets easier the moment the deed is signed. The deposit is gone, the loan repayments have started, and the costs of actually living in the place tend to arrive all at once. The Housing Authority's First Time Buyer Scheme is built around that particular squeeze. Rather than paying out a single lump sum at purchase, it releases €10,000 gradually, in instalments of €1,000 each June across ten years, on the reasoning that steady support through the early years is worth more than a one off payment that disappears into the deposit.

Who This Is For

This is a scheme for people buying somewhere to live, not somewhere to let. That distinction runs through the conditions rather than sitting in a single clause: the property has to be occupied by the owner as their ordinary residence, and letting it to tenants puts the grant at risk.

Investors and second property buyers fall outside it entirely.

Eligibility

The core requirements are straightforward enough.

An applicant must be:

  1. at least 18, and
  2. the property must be their first, with the deed signed on or after 1 January 2022.

Maltese citizens qualify, as do EU citizens acquiring their first residence in Malta, though EU applicants face additional conditions set by the relevant authorities. Where a couple or civil union applies jointly, at least one partner must be Maltese.

Two further conditions catch people out more often, because neither is obvious from the scheme's name.The property must have been bought using a bank home loan, which means a cash purchase does not qualify no matter how straightforward it was. Andit must be used exclusively as the applicant's ordinary residence,so a first home bought with the intention of letting it out falls outside the scheme.

What It Offers

The headline figure is €10,000, paid at €1,000 a year for ten years, with each instalment released in June. There is one variation worth knowing about before applying jointly. If a couple buys together and the property turns out not to be the first for one of them, the grant halves to €5,000, paid at €500 a year across the same ten year term.

Payments go into the same bank account the home loan repayments are drawn from. Where a couple has bought jointly, that has to be a joint account held in both names.

How to Apply

Applications can be lodged through Malta's central government eServices portal, or in person at the Housing Authority's offices at 22 Pietro Floriani Street in Floriana, or its Gozo branch at 25 Enrico Mizzi Street in Victoria. Terms and conditions and application forms are published in both English and Maltese on the Housing Authority's website. Applicants can apply online here.

What Can End the Grant

A few events stop the payments before the ten years are up:

  • Closing the underlying home loan account ends the grant immediately, whatever the reason for closing it.
  • So does transferring the property to someone else, and in that case the obligation runs the other way too: the applicant has two weeks to notify the Housing Authority. Failing to do so can mean repaying the entire grant received to date, with interest and daily penalties on top.

False information in an application is treated as a separate matter altogether. It carries a five year ban from every Housing Authority scheme and the possibility of criminal proceedings, well beyond simply losing the grant.

Source & Verification

This summary draws on the Housing Authority's First Time Buyer Scheme page and its full Terms and Conditions, cross checked clause by clause and last verified on 4 August 2026.

  • Scheme page: https://housingauthority.gov.mt/scheme/first-time-buyer-scheme/
  • Terms and Conditions (PDF): https://housingauthority.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/FTB-E10K-Grant-Englsih-2025-final.pdf

Disclaimer: This information is provided for general awareness only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. Schemes are reviewed and amended periodically, so availability, amounts, deadlines and eligibility criteria may have changed since this page was last verified. Always confirm current details on the official Housing Authority scheme page before applying or making any decision.