The real estate market hit rock bottom in 2013, but after eight years of nosedive trading, the trend is reversing: in fact, sales in the residential sector increase by +4,1% in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period of the previous year .
This is what emerges from the latest Nomisma Report on the sector, a survey that focuses on 13 large cities, from Rome to Milan, from Venice to Palermo. The positive note comes after a tsunami that overwhelmed bricks starting in 2006. In this period, Nomisma points out, the quantities traded fell by 56,5% in the residential sector and by 63,5% in the commercial and tertiary sectors. The road to recovery remains long and tortuous, especially if it is true that there are fewer and fewer families looking for a home, even "324 against almost 730 a year ago", while those potentially interested in taking action "are 1,6 million compared to almost 2 million in 2013”.
The objective data, however, should not be overlooked; in the first quarter of 2014, trade finally regained its plus sign and the percentage was even more significant than the national average in the 13 cities examined: +7,4% for the housing segment; +14,9% the commercial one. Unfortunately, the trend remains negative in the management sector (-2,6%). On the price front, however, the decline does not stop: -4,2% the annual trend for homes in the 13 large cities; -18,9% since 2008.
The other market indicators also remain marked by weakness: the average discount applied to residential properties is 16,5%, while that of business properties exceeds 17%. Rents show similar trends, although renting is now the obvious alternative to buying: "Overall - reads the report - the residential rental market in 2014 showed a lower dispersion of values and an increase in the median rent".
On the credit front, observes the research centre, things are improving but recovery is still far off: "there are no doubts that the restrictive excesses that characterized the most acute phase of the crisis have been overcome, but it seems equally evident that the return to normal allocation is a process that has just begun and, for the moment, limited to supporting families".
Concluding: "the nadir of settlement activity is now behind us, but the road ahead seems far from short, and perhaps the time has come to speed up the pace".
