Shameless Real estate agents make illicit gains at clients’ expense

No wonder surveys put real estate agents in the lowest bracket when it comes to public esteem. A report in the Sunday issue of MaltaToday confirms activities by property negotiators that has contributed to widespread financial hardship with many first time buyers.

It is thought that the real estate industry itself is contributing in no small way to the hiking of Maltese property prices through illegitimate practices that also cheat their own clients to the agency’s or individual negotiator’s advantage. In recent years the price of property has grown by 400 % in some areas.

The MaltaToday insight team has records of homes bought on contract by the negotiatior on Lm230,000 and sold some days later for Lm330,000. The numerous examples in hand also refer to land deals with land sold at Lm80,000 an resold days later for Lm300,000. But smaller figures also abound and they include flats sold for Lm24,000 an resold days later for Lm34,000.