Getting a mortgage in Malta - help!

Hi BrightBug

We took out mortgage with HSBC last year after being on the Island for 2 years (mind you, it was around 1.5 year when we applied and received confirmation that we would be eligible, just had to find the right property).
The only credit history we were able to supply were bank statements from BOV as HSBC account was only opened when mortgage was approved by them (BOV terms were much worse in our case).
We paid 10% upfront & home loan covered the rest. As far as I know this was the highest % you can borrow. In some cases banks insist that you must pay  20% or even 30% yourself (it was 45% with APS for us !) - it may depend on the value of the property as well.
Your salary/income and any financial obligations (other loans/credit card debts & etc.) are taken into account when calculating the max amount you can borrow.
We started the whole process in February & moved in to our property first week of June. This term takes into account opening bank account, mortgage approval by hsbc/issuing of sanction letter, architect valuation, set up of life & property insurance, searches done by the notary & signage of contract of sale .
Regarding tax I cannot really comment much since our situation was different from yours.

Hope it helps at least a bit
regards
Tinna