When I was recently on holiday in Malta I read about the large number of uninhabited homes, seemingly caused by new development. Ultimately, uninhabited homes become ruins and destroy the beauty of their environment.

Under the new High Net Worth Residence scheme, individuals are required to buy a home worth in excess of €400,000. Why not expand that to include the cost of buying a home and the cost of restoring it? Not all new arrivals want to live in the soulless developments I saw near Sliema.

If I could buy a derelict home for €50,000 and spend €350,000 on restoring it, I would have contributed the same amount to the Maltese economy but with the money going to tradesmen, suppliers and property owners rather than property developers and I could have a traditional Maltese home in a charming area rather than a concrete box.

Such a scheme would also encourage people to sell empty homes, as they would now have true value, and prevent the need to gobble up more precious land for development.