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

The First-Time Buyer Scheme is a Housing Authority incentive designed to ease the financial pressure that comes in the years right after buying a first home. Rather than a lump sum, it pays out gradually: a total of €10,000, released in annual instalments of €1,000 over ten years, disbursed each June. The Housing Authority describes the aim as helping people through the crucial first years after this kind of investment, while encouraging more people onto the property ladder.

Who This Is For

  • Personal Accommodation Purchase:Yes — this scheme is for people buying a home to live in.
  • Property Investment Purchase:No — it does not apply to investment or rental property purchases.

Eligibility

To qualify, an applicant needs to be at least 18 years old and must be acquiring their first property, with the deed signed on or after 1 January 2022. Nationality matters too — the scheme is open to Maltese citizens, and to EU citizens who are buying their first residence in Malta, though EU applicants face additional conditions set by the relevant authorities. For couples or civil unions applying jointly, at least one partner must be a Maltese citizen.

Two further conditions are easy to overlook but worth flagging early, since they can disqualify an otherwise eligible buyer: the property must have been bought through a bank home loan (a cash purchase doesn't qualify), and it must be used exclusively as the applicant's ordinary residence rather than let out to tenants.

What It Offers

The headline figure is €10,000, paid as €1,000 a year for ten years, disbursed each June. If a couple buys jointly and the property isn't the first foroneof them, the grant is reduced to €5,000 (€500 a year over the same ten-year term).

The payment is deposited into the same bank account the applicant's home loan repayments are drawn from. For couples who bought jointly, this needs to be a joint account held in both names.

Applying

Applications can only be submitted after the deed of sale has been signed. Deeds signed in 2022 have a clear deadline: 30 September 2023.

For deeds signed from 2023 onward, there's a wrinkle worth flagging rather than glossing over: the Housing Authority's own Terms & Conditions are internally inconsistent about the exact cut-off. The clause's opening line states applications are due "by March of the year following the signing of the deed," but the worked examples directly beneath it say a 2023 deed needs an application "by 31 July 2024," and a 2024 deed "by 31 July 2025." Both statements appear in the same official document. Missing this deadline costs a year's €1,000 instalment, so this is worth confirming directly with the Housing Authority rather than relying on either date alone.

A modest €25 one-time, non-refundable administrative fee applies to every application.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted on the prescribed form at the Housing Authority's offices — 22 Pietro Floriani Street, Floriana, or the Gozo branch at 25 Enrico Mizzi Street, Victoria — or online through Malta's government eServices portal. Terms and conditions and application forms are available directly from the Housing Authority in both English and Maltese. Applicants can apply online here.

What Can End the Grant

A handful of events can bring the grant to a halt before the ten years are up. Closing the underlying home loan account, for whatever reason, stops the payments immediately. So does transferring the property to a third party — the applicant must notify the Housing Authority within two weeks of either event; failing to do so means the beneficiary must repay the full grant already received, plus interest and penalties for each day. Submitting false information carries a five-year ban from all Housing Authority schemes and possible criminal proceedings, on top of losing the grant itself.

Status

The scheme is currently active. Under its own terms, it runs in twelve-month periods from its original publication in the Government Gazette and renews automatically each year unless the Housing Authority publishes a notice withdrawing it.

Source & Verification

This summary draws on the Housing Authority's First-Time Buyer Scheme page and its full Terms & Conditions, cross-checked clause by clause and last verified on 19 July 2026.

  • Scheme page: https://housingauthority.gov.mt/scheme/first-time-buyer-scheme/
  • Terms & 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. Terms, amounts, and eligibility criteria can change — always confirm current details directly with the Housing Authority before applying.