The Italian real estate market is close to a turning point. In the second half of the year, thanks to the recovery in demand, prices stopped falling and are now close to "invariance". Word of the Nomisma research center, which on Wednesday published its latest Real Estate Observatory.
At the moment the only city where prices have risen again is Milan, where used homes and homes in need of renovation register a +0,3% half-yearly. However, only the performance of the prime areas (center and surroundings) improved, while the decline continued in the suburbs (-0,2%).
However, according to the Bolognese institute, in the coming months the rise in prices will also extend to other areas of the country, giving "further impetus to the recovery".
Not only. Nomisma also underlines that the recovery of the market could also lead Italians with savings to invest to focus on real estate, after the investment component has almost disappeared from the retail market in recent years.
As far as rents are concerned, in addition to Milan, Bologna also shows positive changes. But in general, the entire rental market has suffered the effects of the crisis to a lesser extent than the property: the decline is respectively -20% for rents and -25% for prices.
On the sales front, on the other hand, after the annual change of +16% recorded at the end of 2016, a significant reduction in growth should occur in 2017, which according to Nomisma's forecasts will settle at +5%.
According to the Bolognese Institute, "in 2017 the euphoria faded slightly, leaving room for greater prudence in the choices that arise from the assessment of the weaknesses still present on the market".
Home sales in Italy will amount to just under 545; considering 2006 as a comparison – the last year of the expansionary phase – the residential market shrunk by about 36,6%, equal to over 300 fewer contracts stipulated.
