Property prices are on the rise as a result of a spike in the value of land, raw materials and labour costs and not because developers are becoming greedy, the Malta Developers Association president is insisting.
Sandro Chetcuti made this point when the Times of Malta sought his reaction to the pastoral letter from the country’s bishops marking the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which they called for more solidarity on housing.
In his reaction the MDA president said the Church should lead by example by using its own commercial bank and estates to support low-income earners acquiring their own property.
In their appeal, the bishops urged landlords and developers to adopt a social conscience and insisted that they should not be driven solely by greed.
“We Christians, who have a social conscience, should also have a heart and mind that exercise restraint on the rates that regulate the buying and renting of property according to just and equal criteria, underpinned by responsibility and solidarity,” the pastoral letter read.
The Church also expressed concern about incidents where families had no other option but to move out of their homes in the wake of…
