In the first quarter of 2013, the house price index (Ipab) recorded a decrease of 1,2% compared to the previous quarter and of 5,7% on an annual basis. This is revealed by the preliminary estimates of Istat.
The cyclical decline, although smaller than the previous ones, is the sixth consecutive - explains the statistical office - while the decline on a trend basis is the fifth consecutive and exceeds that recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012 (-5,2%) .
The year-on-year decline in IPAB involves both existing and newly built homes. “The marked decrease in prices recorded in the first three months is the synthesis of the drop in prices of existing homes - writes Istat -, which has already been underway since the fourth quarter of 2011 (-7,7%, after -7,9% in fourth quarter 2012) and the prices of new ones (-1,1%), the first since it was possible to calculate the quarterly trend changes in IPAB (first quarter 2011)”.
