Market Report 2026/2027
How Much Can You Earn on Airbnb in Malta in 2026/2027?
A comprehensive breakdown of nightly rates, occupancy trends, and neighborhood performance across the Maltese islands.
Read Full AnalysisDeep dives into Malta's short-let data, regulatory updates, and hospitality trends for the sophisticated property investor.
A comprehensive breakdown of nightly rates, occupancy trends, and neighborhood performance across the Maltese islands.
Read Full Analysis
Market Report
Malta’s short-term rental market generates an estimated €47 million in annual revenue. Properties managed professionally outperform self-managed properties by 30–50% in annual revenue. If you own a property in a prime location — Valletta, Sliema, or St. Julian’s — the numbers are compelling.
But earnings vary significantly by location, property type, and management quality. This guide breaks down real performance data so you can set realistic expectations before you list.
Malta’s capital is the highest-earning area per booking. With 633 active listings and strong demand from cultural tourism, Valletta achieves 85% average occupancy and an average daily rate (ADR) of €132–€195. A well-managed 1-bedroom apartment in Valletta generates approximately €35,000–€45,000 per year in gross revenue.
Sliema is Malta’s most supply-dense market with over 1,161 active listings, but premium properties still perform strongly. The top 25% of Sliema hosts earn €194+ per night. Annual gross revenue for a professionally managed 2-bedroom property ranges from €28,000 to €42,000. Occupancy sits at 78–82%, driven by leisure and longer-stay guests.
St. Julian’s delivers the most consistent year-round occupancy of any area — often above 80% — with an ADR of €120–€145. Annual gross revenue for a 1-bedroom apartment typically falls between €30,000 and €38,000. The area attracts younger travellers, digital nomads, and guests linked to Malta’s gaming and hospitality industry.
Gozo performs differently from mainland Malta. Farmhouses and character properties dominate, with stronger summer peaks and quieter winters. Average ADRs for Gozo farmhouses reach €200–€400+ per night in peak season (June–September). Annual gross revenue for a well-positioned Gozo farmhouse ranges from €20,000 to €60,000+, depending on property size and marketing quality.
These northern areas attract a primarily family market with strong peaks in July and August. A well-managed 2-bedroom apartment in St. Paul’s Bay averages €70–€110 per night with occupancy around 65–75% annually. Melliħa luxury villas command €300–€600+ per night during peak weeks.
Professional management delivers 30–50% higher annual revenue than self-management. The gap comes from three sources:
Gross revenue is not what lands in your bank account. Here is a realistic net income calculation for a 1-bedroom Sliema apartment generating €30,000 gross per year:
Compare this to a long-term let at €950 per month (€11,400 per year gross before tax) — the short-let advantage is clear, even after professional management fees.
Yes. Every short-let property in Malta must hold a valid MTA Holiday Furnished Premises Licence before accepting bookings. Operating without one risks a 3-year disqualification under Malta’s 2026 regulations. Eleva manages the full application process for all managed properties.
With the MTA licence in place, Eleva can have your property listed and generating bookings within 7–14 days of onboarding — including professional photography, listing creation, and platform setup.
Yes. Individual property owners pay a 15% final withholding tax on short-let rental income. There is also a €0.50 per adult per night Eco-Tax, which Eleva collects from guests and remits on your behalf.
Regulation
Every short-let property in Malta must hold a valid MTA Holiday Furnished Premises Licence before accepting a single booking. This applies regardless of the platform — Airbnb, Booking.com, or direct — and regardless of how many nights per year you rent. There are no exemptions for occasional or seasonal rentals.
The MTA Holiday Furnished Premises Licence is issued by the Malta Tourism Authority and certifies that a property meets minimum standards for short-term tourist accommodation. Standards cover fire safety, electrical installation, furnishing quality, emergency signage, and habitability.
The licence is property-specific — not owner-specific or agency-specific. Each individual unit requires its own application, inspection, and fee. If you own three apartments and wish to rent all three, you need three separate licences.
The licence is held by the property owner. If a management company handles the property, the owner remains the licence holder. Eleva prepares and manages the full application as a service — owners simply provide the required documents and sign where needed.
The following documents are required for a standard application:
Missing documents pause the vetting clock. Eleva coordinates with a certified Perit and prepares the full application package to avoid delays.
Realistic total timeline: 4–6 weeks from initial submission to licence in hand, assuming documents are complete and the property passes inspection first time.
The current MTA licence fee is approximately:
These fees are paid directly to the MTA and are separate from any management company charges.
Receiving your MTA licence is not the end. Licensed operators have ongoing obligations:
Legal Notice 92 of 2026 introduced the most significant overhaul of Malta’s short-let regulations in recent years:
Eleva handles the entire MTA licence process: document preparation, Perit coordination, MTA portal submission, inspection management, and approval tracking. Ongoing compliance — licence number display, Eco-Tax remittance, and renewal management — is included in the standard service. No Eleva-managed property has ever faced a compliance action.
No. You must hold a valid licence before accepting any bookings. Platforms now verify licence numbers, so unlicensed properties are at risk of removal.
Yes, the licence requires periodic renewal. Eleva manages renewal processes for all properties in its portfolio.
The MTA issues a list of required remediation works. Once completed, a re-inspection is scheduled. Eleva prepares properties thoroughly before the initial inspection to minimise failure risk.
Investment
Location is the single most important variable in Malta short-let investment success. The difference between the best and worst-performing areas can be as large as 40% in annual revenue — even for identical property types. This analysis draws on real market data to help you make an informed decision.
We assess each area across four dimensions: average daily rate (ADR), occupancy rate, annual gross revenue potential, and market competition. No single metric tells the full story — a high ADR area with low occupancy can underperform a moderate ADR area with consistent year-round demand.
Occupancy: 85% average | ADR: €132–€195 | Annual gross (1-bed): €35,000–€45,000
Malta’s UNESCO World Heritage capital generates the strongest average daily rates on the island. The combination of cultural tourism, limited short-let supply (633 active listings), and international visitor demand drives consistently high performance.
Best property types: Character apartments, converted palazzo flats, and townhouses. Properties with rooftop terraces or harbour views command a significant premium.
Key consideration: Entry prices in Valletta are the highest in Malta. Typical 1-bedroom apartments sell for €250,000–€400,000+, which affects the yield calculation.
Occupancy: 78–82% | ADR: €120–€175 | Annual gross (2-bed): €28,000–€42,000
Sliema is Malta’s most liquid short-let market with 1,161 active listings and strong year-round demand from business travellers, returning tourists, and digital nomads. It offers the best balance of consistent occupancy and competitive ADR.
The top quartile of Sliema hosts earns €194+ per night — demonstrating that premium positioning within a competitive market is achievable. Properties with sea views, pools, or premium interior design consistently outperform the area average.
Occupancy: 80–87% | ADR: €120–€145 | Annual gross (1-bed): €30,000–€38,000
St. Julian’s delivers the most consistent occupancy of any area in Malta — often above 80% year-round. This is driven by its position as Malta’s entertainment hub, proximity to the gaming industry, and strong demand from younger travellers.
Key consideration: Properties slightly removed from Paceville tend to score better on guest noise reviews.
Occupancy: 55–75% (highly seasonal) | ADR: €150–€400+ | Annual gross (farmhouse): €20,000–€60,000+
Gozo is a completely different investment thesis. Summer (June–September) delivers exceptional performance — farmhouses and character villas regularly command €300–€500 per night. But November to February sees sharp occupancy drops, requiring a different pricing and marketing strategy.
Best property types: Traditional farmhouses, character villas with pools, rural retreats. Modern apartments perform significantly below the Gozo average.
Gzira, immediately adjacent to Sliema, is attracting growing attention from digital nomads and remote workers. Lower property prices than Sliema — often 20–30% cheaper per square metre — combined with a walkable waterfront make it a compelling buy-to-let opportunity for investors with a 3–5 year horizon.
No. Eleva manages properties entirely on behalf of overseas owners. From MTA licence application to monthly payout reports, the entire operation runs without owner involvement. Many of our clients have never visited Malta.
Beyond the purchase price and stamp duty (5% in Malta), you need to budget for furnishing, MTA licence (€130 per unit in Malta, €104 in Gozo), professional photography, and any compliance works identified during the MTA inspection.
With the MTA licence in place, Eleva can have a new property listed and generating bookings within 7–14 days of being furnished and photographed.
Hospitality
On Airbnb and Booking.com, your review score is your ranking algorithm. Properties with 4.8+ ratings consistently appear higher in search results and command 15–20% higher nightly rates than comparable properties with lower scores. A 4.6 versus a 4.9 is not a marginal difference — it can mean tens of thousands of euros in annual revenue.
Professional photography does two things: it attracts more bookings, and — more importantly for reviews — it sets expectations the property can meet. Guests who feel a property matches its photos rarely leave negative reviews about the space itself.
Properties with professional photography receive 40% more bookings than those with amateur photos. Misleading hero shots that make a small apartment look enormous generate disappointed guests. Accurate, beautifully lit photography attracts guests who are a genuine fit for the property.
Minimum standard: Shoot during golden hour or with controlled interior lighting. Show every room including bathrooms and storage. Include at least one contextual location shot.
Cleanliness and value for money are the two review categories with the highest correlation to overall scores. Linen quality directly affects both.
Egyptian cotton sheets (300+ thread count), white duvet covers, and plush towels immediately elevate the perceived value of any property regardless of its size or price point. Guests compare their Airbnb experience to hotels — your linen should match or exceed a 3-star hotel minimum.
Consumables checklist: Hand soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, kitchen washing-up liquid, sponge, toilet paper (minimum 2 rolls per bathroom per night booked), bin bags, dishwasher tablets where applicable. Running out of any of these generates a negative review.
The moment a guest walks through the door sets the emotional tone for the entire stay. A curated welcome pack — local wine, Maltese snacks (bigilla, ftira crackers, nougat), a handwritten note — costs approximately €15–20 and generates a disproportionate review response.
Guests who feel personally welcomed are dramatically less likely to mention minor property imperfections in their reviews. The €20 welcome pack is the highest-ROI hospitality investment available to short-let owners in Malta. Eleva includes a branded welcome pack for all properties in its portfolio.
Airbnb’s algorithm directly measures response time — hosts who respond within 1 hour receive better search visibility. But the impact on reviews is equally significant: guests who receive slow or unclear responses are more likely to leave critical feedback.
Key communication moments that affect reviews:
Eleva manages 24/7 guest communication for all managed properties, maintaining sub-1-hour response times across all platforms.
Check-in is the second highest-risk review moment after the first impression of the property. Key box malfunctions, unclear instructions, or late host arrivals create anxiety and set a negative tone for the stay.
Smart lock systems (Nuki, Yale, or similar) eliminate key-handover dependency entirely and allow guests to arrive at any time without coordination. Combined with a detailed digital property guide — appliance instructions, WiFi details, local recommendations, emergency contacts — they remove the most common sources of check-in friction.
Checkout friction from unclear instructions also generates negative reviews. A simple, friendly checkout card or WhatsApp message resolves this completely.
These five changes work together. A property that scores 4.6 and implements all five — professional photography, premium linen, welcome pack, fast communication, and seamless check-in — typically reaches 4.8–4.9 within 10–15 reviews. At that level, platform algorithms begin preferring the property in search results, generating more bookings and improving review velocity further.
Airbnb allows review change requests through its Resolution Centre, but only where the review violates content policies. The better strategy is preventing negative reviews through the five practices above, and responding professionally to any that do appear — responses are public and visible to future guests.
Properties begin appearing in more competitive search results after 10+ reviews with a score above 4.8. The first 5 reviews are the most critical — a single 3-star review at this stage can significantly drag the average.
Yes. Properties with 4.8+ scores command 15–20% higher rates than equivalent properties scoring below 4.7. The review score directly justifies higher pricing in the algorithm and in guest psychology.
Investment
Malta property owners face a fundamental choice: list on Airbnb and Booking.com for short-term visitors, or rent long-term to a tenant on a 12-month lease. The right answer depends on your location, property type, risk tolerance, and management preference. This guide compares both strategies using real 2026 Malta data.
Using a concrete example: a well-presented 1-bedroom apartment in Sliema.
Short-let advantage: 64–115% more net income than long-term renting for the same Sliema property.
Malta’s long-term rental market is capped by what local residents and long-term expats can afford to pay. The short-let market is priced to what tourists — who have budgeted specifically for a holiday — are willing to spend. In prime tourism locations, that willingness is significantly higher than local rental capacity.
Professional management narrows the gap (30% fee is significant) but still leaves short-let substantially ahead in net income terms for most prime Malta locations.
Short-let is not the right strategy for every property or every owner. Long-term renting makes more sense when:
Some Malta property owners adopt a mixed approach — short-letting during peak season (April–October) and taking a medium-term tenant (2–6 months) during the quieter winter months. This strategy:
Eleva manages hybrid strategies for owners who want to optimise across seasons.
For properties in Valletta, Sliema, St. Julian’s, Gozo, or any area with proven tourist demand and an MTA licence: short-let with professional management delivers substantially higher net income than long-term renting in virtually every scenario we have modelled.
For properties in non-tourist areas or where licensing is not achievable, long-term renting remains the right choice.
You must wait until the existing lease expires or negotiate an early termination with your tenant. Malta rental law does not allow you to force a tenant to leave before the lease end date to switch to short-let.
In Malta, both long-term and short-term rental income can be subject to the 15% final withholding tax option for individuals. However, the structures differ in practice. Consult a Malta-based tax adviser for your specific situation.
Contact Eleva for a free revenue estimate. We assess your specific property’s location, size, and condition against current market data and give you a realistic annual income projection before you commit to anything.
Regulation
Malta’s short-term rental market entered a new regulatory era in May 2026. Legal Notice 92 of 2026 — the most comprehensive overhaul of short-let rules in the country’s history — introduced mandatory platform verification, stricter penalty enforcement, and new operator obligations that affect every property owner renting on Airbnb, Booking.com, or any other platform.
Published by the Maltese Government in May 2026, Legal Notice 92 introduced a package of regulatory changes targeting the short-term rental sector. The core changes are:
Every property owner in Malta renting accommodation to tourists is subject to MTA licensing requirements. This includes:
There are no exemptions based on the number of nights rented per year, property size, or whether the owner occupies the property part-time.
The MTA Holiday Furnished Premises Licence has been required since the introduction of short-let regulations. What Legal Notice 92 changed is enforcement:
A 3-year disqualification is effectively a death sentence for a short-let income strategy. Your property cannot legally generate tourist rental income for three years, and any income earned during that period remains at legal risk.
If your property is currently listed on Airbnb or Booking.com, you must:
If you do not yet have an MTA licence, you must suspend bookings until the licence is obtained. Continuing to accept bookings without a licence now carries significantly higher risk than before Legal Notice 92.
The Malta Eco-Contribution is a separate requirement from the MTA licence. Hosts must collect €0.50 per adult per night from guests and remit it to the Malta Tourism Authority. This applies to all nights booked regardless of the booking platform.
Failure to collect and remit Eco-Tax is a separate compliance violation. Eleva collects and remits Eco-Tax on behalf of all managed properties as part of the standard service.
Short-let income earned by individual property owners in Malta is subject to a 15% final withholding tax. This flat rate is applied to gross rental income before management fees. It is final — no additional income tax is due on this income if the withholding is applied correctly.
Companies and non-resident owners may be subject to different tax treatment. Consult a Malta-based tax adviser for your specific situation.
Legal Notice 92 reinforced the requirement for operators in blocks of flats or condominiums to notify the building administrator. Some condominium rules may restrict or prohibit short-let activity — owners must check their deed of acquisition and building regulations before listing.
Eleva manages regulatory compliance for all properties in its portfolio. This includes MTA licence application and renewal, licence number display on all platform listings, on-property notice installation, Eco-Tax collection and remittance, VAT and fiscal receipt compliance, and monitoring of regulatory changes as they are published.
No Eleva-managed property has faced a compliance action. All managed properties held valid MTA licences before the Legal Notice 92 enforcement deadline.
You would need to obtain the MTA licence before relisting. The timeline is 4–6 weeks assuming documents are in order. During this period, you cannot accept bookings on the platform. Eleva can manage the application process urgently for affected owners.
Yes. Legal Notice 92 applies to all short-let properties across Malta and Gozo. The MTA licence fee for Gozo properties is €104 per unit versus €130 in Malta, but the requirements are identical.
No. The MTA licence requirement applies regardless of the booking method. Direct bookings, private websites, and social media lettings are all subject to the same licensing requirements.
The Eco-Tax is €0.50 per adult per night, charged to the guest rather than the owner. It must be collected on every stay and remitted to the MTA. Eleva handles this automatically for all managed properties.