Italians look to the future with more optimism, there is less fear of spending and the favor for real estate investment is growing again. The North West of the country is leading the newfound optimism.
This is the picture of Italy, in the Ipsos/Acri report on savings and Italians in its 15th year. And it confirms what the statistics are telling us: the recovery has begun but the crisis isn't completely over yet.
“All areas of the country show an improvement, but this is particularly visible in the North West, where 2 out of 3 people are satisfied (67% satisfied, +9 percentage points compared to 2014). At the same time, the number of those reporting a deterioration in their standard of living is reduced”, explains a summary of the research, presented in Rome at the headquarters of ACRI, the association of Italian savings banks.
Many Italians who still see a "serious" (for 80% of interviewees) and lasting (until 2020 to return to pre-crisis levels) crisis but feel the improvement of their personal economic situation.
A new confidence also emerges from questions about the future. “Today more than 1 out of 3 Italians is confident about Italy's future (36%), while 27% are disheartened: in one year the balance, today +9, has improved by 24 percentage points”.
The implication of this return of confidence is that Italians are even less afraid to spend. So for the first time in 4 years those who don't live peacefully if they don't put something aside are fewer than those who save only if it doesn't cost them too many sacrifices. However, the share that actually saved in the last year grew by 2014 percentage points compared to 4, to the current 37%, the highest figure since 2010.
Finally, 2015 is the year of the recovery of investment in the home, a signal already present in the data on the boom growth of new bank mortgages: the preference for bricks rises by a good 5 percentage points, reaching a value of 29%. It was 24% in 2014 and 70% in 2006.
The euro disappoints, as it has for many years now, with three out of four Italians saying they are dissatisfied, but 51% are sure that in 20 years having the single currency will have been an advantage.
