After a 2009 that saw the Italian property market stand against the financial crisis that hit global markets better than any other country, the forecast for 2010 are that property in Italy will likely have a quite similar perform compared to the previous year. It will see a slight decrease in home prices, with high end properties holding better their value and cheaper properties having a stronger decrease in prices. This is what emerges from a study conducted by the Italian property group Tecnocasa.

The report analyses the performance of the Italian property market throughout last year and highlights the fact that the property sales in Italy experienced the strongest slowdown in the first months of the year to pick up later on, when investors acquired more confidence in the market, especially in the residential sector. A negative influence to the market was given by banks and mortgage companies who tightened up access to funds to property buyers, making sales harder to achieve.

For 2010 the reports predicts that, if the conditions remain similar for all the year, there will be 600,000 properties sold, similar to the 2009 performance, with a slight decrease of property prices in the matter of 1% to 3 %.

Cash buyers, or investors that can provide the right credentials to gain funds will have the power to bargain the price and thus choose the best deals which will sell quicker: this also means that easy to sell properties will sell even more easily and without much hassle than properties that provide less value for money.

Also homes at the top end of the market will keep performing well as they did in 2009, whereas cheaper properties will probably have a steeper decrease in value, this is mainly due to the difficulties that the type of buyers interested in this kind of home will have in finding access to credit.

Along with high end properties also homes set in city centres will perform well: cities such as Macerata, Savona, Avellino and Lecce will see a price increase by 1% to 4%. A slightly smaller price increase is expected in Latina, Parma, Rimini, Taranto Verona, Cagliari, Bergamo, Pavia and Udine, which will have a price raise up to 3%.

A different situation is predicted for Bari and Turin. Although their average prices will see an increase, between 2% and 5% for the first one and 0% to 3% for the latter, their city centre will have a price drop expected to be between -1% to -3% for Bari and up to -2% for Turin.

A peculiar aspect of the report is the fact that, while the property market in city centres will remain stable, properties in the outskirts will see a drop in their prices. This will happen in all cities, except the ones that have invested in infrastructures and in requalification of urban areas. Among these cities, Genoa and Palermo are expected to be the worst performers with a stronger price decrease for their outskirts properties between -6% to -9% for Genoa and -5% to -8% for Palermo.

• 0 Comments