Italy: fall in property prices in big cities slows

Not a very thriving real estate market in Italy is still showing the first signs of improvement. At least the fall in prices slows. In 2012 transactions fell by 25.8% (reducing the value of objects on the €27 billion). Thus the real estate market in Italy today shows a sharp distinction between large and small cities, informs "Casa 24 Plus".

The first three months of 2013 have not been very successful: only 94,500 real estate transactions (compared to 110,116 transactions in the first quarter of 2012). A decline was 14.2%. The fall is lasting for five consecutive quarters.

There is a tendency to slow the decline in prices and number of transactions in the eight largest Italian cities. For example, the average number of transactions fell by 7.2%, for example, in the first quarter of 2012 drop was 17.9% compared to the same period of 2011. These data include negative values of real estate markets in Milan and Florence (-4.8% and -4%, respectively) and a positive trend in Naples, where the number of transactions increased by more than 15% due to the sale of public buildings for the last 6 months.

However, this is only a slight improvement of the situation on the real estate market in Italy. Experts point out that the major administrative centers that are doing better are the harbingers of trends to improve, but that does not mean that the worst is over. Moreover, if the reduction in the number of transactions will continue in the coming quarters, the bottom line will be below the low end of 2012, when the real estate market in Italy sank to the level of 1985.

"In the real estate market and economic situation in the country has seen the relationship," said Gianni Guerrieri, head of the analytical center of the Tax Service of Italy, engaged in the real estate market. "Significant figures of administrative centers, in general, anticipate trends in the sector. In the fourth quarter of 2012, only 2 administrative centers showed a positive change in the trends of sales, but in the first quarter of 2013 its number had risen to 38. The number of transactions increased, albeit small."

If you compare the number of current transactions in the residential real estate market in Italy with the corresponding quarter in 2004, in the north of the country the fall was 50.3%, in the center - 48.6%, in the south - 44.3%.

As for the other segments of the market, the industrial sector has lost about 6% in the number of transactions, the commercial sector - 8.7%, slightly worse things were in the area of office space. Revival of the sector may begin with non-residential real estate market, some experts believe. There is hope for improvement and return of foreign investors who might be interested in real estate in Italy, greatly cheapened in recent years.