In November last year we moved to Malta, a small mediterranean island close to Italy. It used to be part of the UK so English is widely spoken here and a lot of the infrastructure reminds you of the UK.
They have encouraged companies and expats to come here and it has been very good for the economy and the Maltese. First quarter 2026 the economy grew at 4.2% compared to the UK at 0.6%, a lot of it driven by tourism, construction and financial services.
Property prices here are eye watering compared to other parts of Europe and even the UK, but rents are not as high as the property prices partly due to the Maltese owning a large part of the property market and restrictions in who can buy property in Malta.
We are now 6 months in, it is certainly getting much warmer in the summer here. with low 30C temperatures daily and sea temperatures of 26C. Humidity is high and the air conditioning is now running quite a lot, we haven’t been here in August and that is supposedly pretty unbearably hot.
We have now completed our MPRP (Malta Permanent Residency Program) application and this was granted within around 4-5 months of the application being submitted. If anyone wants to know the process or how it works let me know. We now have the right to stay in Malta so long as we buy or rent a property here.
On tax, which wasn’t our first thought process when moving but a bonus we are on a remittance basis (income we bring into Malta we pay approx. 15% on), but no tax on Capital Gains Tax, any capital brought into the country (for example for buying a property). I haven’t worked out the impact on the taxation compared to the UK but it’s certainly lower.
We also need health insurance to be here as part of our MPRP but apart from that its pretty cost effective to be based here, certainly food costs are lower or comparable to the UK.
Kevin Dorren 
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