#VALLETTA MALTA REAL ESTATE HOW TO#
#VALLETTA MALTA REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL#

Like other risks in business, one needs to assess these and manage them, learn to use the positive aspects for the benefit of the business, handle the risks – Malta is no different.

“Every country I have ever worked in has had its unique circumstances and challenges. He goes on to add some insight into the pros and cons of working in Malta.

He provides a simple example: “If you are in the main square of a European city and within a five minutes walking proximity you have a totally abandoned, neglected area – as lower Valletta was in our case – that is the definition of a goldmine.”Īs a UNESCO-protected heritage site, Valletta is a “very business-friendly environment”, and a “remarkably exciting” place to invest in real estate, says Mr Tzvetkov. “What we have achieved in regenerating some of the lower parts of Valletta in the last 10 years, is what we have done for the last 20 years or so in other countries abroad highly successfully I might add.”

#VALLETTA MALTA REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL#

It’s a book and you just need to read it and apply it – we don’t try to re-invent the wheel, we only implement the best international practices, at the highest professional level.

There’s absolutely no genius, and no magic in it.

#VALLETTA MALTA REAL ESTATE HOW TO#

There lies the potential for the investors we have a clear vision of how to untap that potential.”Īsked whether his long experience in the sector helps in the identification of market gaps, Dr Szephalmi replies, “Real estate development, urban re-development… This is not an art, it’s a profession. Compared to the likes of other historic walled cities, Valletta is still underserved and undervalued. “As a foreigner, however, I also see the enormous gap between Valletta and its Euro-Mediterranean peers. We like to believe that we had quite a significant part in this adjustment. Mr Tzvetkov adds: “A recent study done by EY, quite rightly, placed Valletta as the most valuable real estate per square metre on the island. It was unique, and Malta’s capital city, but yet it sat at the bottom of the Maltese property market – it didn’t take much to realise this made no sense, and it was this investment opportunity which brought me back out of an early retirement.” “When I first arrived to Malta,” says Dr Szephalmi, “I visited Valletta it was different to the rest of the island. Large scale property development projects within culturally and historically sensitive locations is a trend which is clearly important to the two seasoned real estate professionals. VBL Group executive director and CEO Geza Szephalmi (left) and CFO Julian Tzvetkov (right) We spoke to two of the key figures behind VBL to learn more about their experience of investing in Malta and their vision for the future of Valletta.īoth Julian Tzvetkov and Geza Szephalmi, the group’s CFO and CEO, effortlessly convey their long professional backgrounds in finance and real estate, which seem to have touched most corners of Europe and beyond. VBL Group, the owner of Valletta’s largest private portfolio of real estate, is offering the Maltese public the opportunity to be a part of its journey in what it envisions to be an exciting “true equity success story” with its plans for expansion.

Valletta malta real estate