Rents rose to 19.6% from 16.8%

Rentals – In Italy, in the 1st half of 2023, purchases of a house for investment rose to 19.6% from 16.8% in June 2022. The reasons? The desire to protect capital and practice short-term rentals.

The trends of the Italian real estate sector in 2023, which emerged in the conference "Regenerating to anticipate the future", are these:
1. increase in investment purchases;
2. increase in the average age of buyers;
3. increase in the percentages of people moving from big cities to the hinterland;
4. growth in the signing of contracts for university students and of a transitory nature.

More purchases for investment
“Despite the fact that the first part of 2023 shows a significant slowdown in the real estate market, with a consequent slowdown in sales and growth in prices and rentals, there is no sign of a decrease in small investors who, according to our data, are increasing, driven above all by the desire to protect the capital and practice short-term rentals, thanks to the important tourist flows that are affecting our country", commented the head of the research office of a well-known real estate group - The data relating to the sales carried out by the group's agencies in question, have in fact highlighted an increase in the percentage of those purchasing for investment, at a national level, from 16.8% at the end of June 2022 to 19.6% at the end of June 2023". This is the highest share recorded in the last 5 years"..added the group manager. The interest that Milan continues to arouse among investors is high, also thanks to the numerous regeneration interventions planned in the city. “Among the big cities, Milan has in fact placed itself on the podium; Investment purchases now make up 39.1% of sales, a significantly higher share than what was recorded in previous years when it fluctuated between 23 and 27%".
Identikit of the buyers
Even if the data show, at a national level, an increase in the average age of buyers, which rises to 43.8 years, a trend to analyze is the progressive growth in the percentage of purchases by singles, which in 2023 exceeded the 33%, while the remaining 67% are families. In Milan, however, the percentage of purchases by singles is even higher and has exceeded 50%. 

Sales volumes and house prices
“In the first half of 2023, there were 350,855 residential sales in Italy with a 12.5% ​​decrease compared to the same period of 2022”… on the one hand the desire of families to purchase, on the other an attitude of prudence among the potential buyers, with sales expected at the end of the year around 680 thousand. It should be highlighted that, among the large cities, the most significant reductions in volumes were recorded in Bologna (-23.3%), Bari(-22%) and Milan (-20%).
Percentage change in prices in the 1st half of 2023 compared to the 2nd half of 2022
In the first six months of 2023, house prices slowed growth, particularly in large cities which recorded a limited increase of 0.6%. We note the return to negative territory of Genoa (-1.0%) and Florence (-0.9%), but also the strong slowdown experienced by Milan (+0.2%) and Bologna (+0.1) which , in previous semesters, had seen significant increases in values. The highest growth (+1.9%) was achieved by Naples, while Rome closed the semester with +0.7%. It must be said that in Milan prices have risen by 38.2% in the last 5 years, from 2018 to 2023, especially those in the suburbs which have increased by over 45 percentage points.

The Italian rental market
Rents continued to grow at a rapid pace but, in the first part of 2023, there is a slowdown (also in this market segment): +3.4% for studio apartments, +3% for two-room apartments +3 .2% for three-room apartments. “Milan confirms itself as the city with the highest monthly rents (775 euros for a studio apartment, 1068 euros for a two-room apartment and 1453 euros for a three-room apartment) – Verona is the one where rents grew the most on average in the first part of 2023 (+4.4% for studio apartments, +3.6% for two-room apartments, +3.9% for three-room apartments)”.