La dark of the crisissharper than ever, falls on the real estate market. In the first three months of 2012, in fact, the sales of the residential sector they decreased by 19,6% compared to the same period last year, going from 136 units to 110, a figure that contrasts with the latest quarterly surveys, those of the end of 2011, which had hinted at faint signs of market recovery.
To make it known is the Territorial Agency which in the press release released today speaks openly of a "collapse" of the real estate market, specifying that it is the sharpest fall, on an annual basis, since quarterly monitoring began in 2004.
The collapse of the deeds in the quarter follows a trajectory already underway in the market, and, states the note from the Territory “finds ample explanation considering the main macroeconomic indicators referring to that period“. In a nutshell, the crisis can be explained in the 0,5% contraction of GDP, in the increase in unemployment and above all in the sharp drop (7%) in household spending on durable goods, while the annual mortgage rate continues to rise.
All this then adds up the widespread climate of uncertainty, which ends up reducing even those who would have the possibility to spend to milder advice.
The effect of the IMU, on the other hand, is still marginal at the moment. The deeds for the first few months of 2012, in fact, were already, for the most part, on the calendar before the law was introduced. The inevitable repercussions of the municipal tax, therefore, can only be seriously evaluated in the coming months.
Also to be monitored the fluctuations in the cost of houses, the value of which has proved rather stable in recent years, but which cannot fail to feel the consequences of such a sharp decline in transactions.
In addition to the residential sector, which constitutes the most popular slice of the market, the other sectors also collapsed. The deeds of the tertiary sector decreased by 19,6% and those of the commercial sector by 17,6%. The contraction in the production sector was slighter, but still significant, -7,9%, while sales of car garages slipped by 17,4%.
