Estimated €7.6 billion in vacant properties

According to Busuttil these vacant assets are contributing to some €380 million in income losses per year.

He criticised the rent reform, saying the law was useless given that it does not give property owners the right to evict tenants who do not abide by the law. He said the Chamber is now proposing to government to amend the law accordingly and remove the Malta Tourism Authority tax that amounts to a whole month of rent.

Former Nationalist minister Michael Falzon and current president of the Malta Developers Association hit out at the new rules of the permanent residency scheme. "We did not have to wait for nine months,” Falzon said, adding that government repeatedly sends the wrong message to the building sector.

He argued in favour of "sustainable development" by adopting incentives that encourage the construction industry to invest and not face unnecessary Mepa bureaucracy.

"Tariffs for development permits are unsustainable, and have become more of a tax, while capital gains tax has reached the highest in Europe. These costs have previously been absorbed in the property prices, but with dwindling market prices, these costs are becoming further costs on the developer," Falzon said.

“Property is no longer considered an investment,” Falzon said, warning his audience to keep a lookout at the fact that banks have billions in loans for property. “I don’t know if government wants to shrink the construction industry while encouraging expansion to other sectors,” Michael Falzon said.