A passion for property

CHEF DANIEL GRECH

Sensara Malta: real estate brokers, who offer a large selection of properties throughout the island, acting as an intermediary for clients, whether buying, selling or renting. We spoke with owner and founder Janice Azzopardi for some exclusive insight, into the ever-evolving property market in Malta

sensara malta bills itself as a traditional 1% broker. What does your business involve exactly?

I started Sensara Malta five years ago and we now have over 20 employees. We operate as intermediaries when buying, selling or renting property. We pride ourselves on the fact that Sensara Malta strictly abides by the law that you can only demand a 1% fee from a client. We provide free valuations and don’t oblige anyone to sell through us when we value their property. It’s their property after all and one’s property is their life investment. We only get our 1% commission fee if they choose to sell through us.

How does sensara differ from other agencies?

Sensara Malta is not here to compete. We exist to give our customers a different kind of service than that of other estate agents. I founded my company because I didn’t like the way people saw intermediaries – as people only out to make money. The general public view estate agents as money suckers and I don’t want money suckers working for me. I wanted to build trust and ensure that people knew that Sensara Malta first and foremost, safeguards them.

Janice Azzopardi

Photo: Sensara Malta

What do you think is behind the big boom in the property market?

The property market really opened up in 2013, when there was a change in government. There was a rise in people taking buy-to-let loans and paying back said loans from the income they received through renting out their properties. Developers weren’t too happy with this and thus, increased their prices. In turn, land owners and construction companies raised their prices too. It’s a chain – everything began to increase. One must acknowledge that developers had little choice but to increase their prices.