land Market News: Spanish Real Estate Intelligence

27 November, Italia Oggi Despite the decrease of transactions for main residences between 2016 and 2017, the taxes collected by the national revenue agency have increased by 10.5%, having gone from 383,274,036 euro in 2016 to 424,411,523 euro in 2017. The property types which reported the highest tax reliefs for the main residence have been those of the “civilian” type A/2 (50% of the sample) and those of the “economic” type A/3 (30%). Terraced houses A/7 represented only 10% of the sample. Not only: of the 246,539 houses purchased in the first semester of 2018, the tax relief was requested for 177,212 properties. This means that over a half of the houses purchased in Italy is bought with using the main dwelling tax relief. Moreover, transactions by privates have been the main driver of the market: 90.78% of the houses sold in the first half of 2018. Meanwhile, sales by companies are at a standstill with only 9.23% of the transactions. Finally, the increased national revenue originated by houses between 2016 and 2017 might also be due to “a higher cadastral value of the properties bought throughout the previous year as a result of the gradual updating by city administrations of the Land Registry Income”. A study by the Notaries National Council and processed by Nortatel Spa (the notary IT company) clearly shows this situation. The report processes the data provided by 98% of the active notaries. The figures also monitor moveable and fixed assets, mortgages, donations, enterprises and companies related to the first semester of the current year. The report includes an in-depth analysis of the tax reliefs granted in 2016/2017. The purchase of the main residence The report shows how three regions registered an increase in transactions between 2016 and 2017, despite the negative national trend: Campania with a +15% growth and a corresponding rise of the national revenue collected equal to +14.73%; Marche with +11.09% and an increase in revenue from tax collection equal to 12.16%; Val d’Aosta with a +18.40% growth and cashed revenues for +23.12%. On the other hand, Abruzzo is the only region reporting a negative result concerning property transactions (-12.50%) and revenues (-9.95%). Agricultural land The analysis by Notaries of the 2016/2017 period shows the impact of the tax relief for the purchase of agricultural land resulting in a 22.88% growth in 2016 and 20.84% in 2017. As the notaries report: “land tax relief concentrate in Piedmont, Veneto and Puglia”. For what concerns the age range, farmers aged between 36 and 55 years represent the biggest quota of requests for tax relief. Young people (18-35 years) are 16.88% of the total tax relief applications, while people between 56 and 65 years are 18.52% of the total. Source: Italia Oggi Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

27 November, Il Sole 24 Ore In the first semester of 2018, there have been 443,337 transactions concerning properties of all categories, 334,979 of which reported a 10.72% increase from the previous year following the consistent reduction of prices. If 2017 reported a -17% decrease in the average property values (from 147,000 to 126,512 euro), these values decreased even further in the first semester of 2018 (118,356 euro). Besides the homogeneous increase of property transactions for all the price ranges, the most interesting data is the 26.73% increase in the sales of properties priced above 900,000 euro. These are the main conclusions emerging from the Notary Statistics Data Report for the first part of 2018 concerning transactions for fixed and moveable assets, mortgages, donations, enterprises and companies. Sales of agricultural land have increased (57,284) compared to those for developable area (13,624)., growing by +2.83% in the first six months of 2018 from the previous year. Sales almost entirely concerned the lowest price range (below 100,000 euro). Concerning taxation, of 246,539 residential properties, the main residence tax relief has been requested for 177,212 houses. The data confirms the trend that sees over a half of the properties purchased in Italy using this tax relief. The report shows how real estate companies are still at a standstill concerning, as the majority of the properties are being sold by privates. In the first semester of 2018, 90.78% of the residential properties were sold by privates, while companies sold the remaining 9.23%. For what concerns mortgages, there have been 193,102 new operations with a 5.92% increase compared to the same semester of 2017. Despite the predominance of loaned amounts below 150,000 euro, there has been an 8-10% growth of amounts between 200,000 and 300,000 euro. Subrogations continued dropping, having decreased by 30% compared to the same period of the previous year. Donations increased by 10% for fixed assets and by 4.6% for moveable ones. Donations of productive assets are predominant in northern Italy, while property donations concentrate in the south. Newly-incorporated companies have increased in 2018 registering a 6.20% growth, especially incorporated companies (+8.7%) and temporary associations of companies (+20.7%), while cooperatives decreased (-20.6%). The tax reliefs report for 2016/2017 considers tax reliefs concerning appointments to partners, small agricultural land, primary residences and the corresponding tax revenue. The report compares extraordinary and temporary operations (the relief for appointments to partners concerned only the 2016/2017 period) with the only two tax reliefs currently in place (as these benefits are always available) after the reintroduction of the registration fee in 2014. The impact of tax reliefs for small agricultural properties on the total transactions for agricultural land was equal to 22.88% in 2016 and to 20.84% in 2017. The majority of tax reliefs for land concentrated in Piedmont, Veneto and Puglia, all regions with a solid agricultural tradition. People between 36 and 55 of age represented the majority of the requests, although young farmers (between 18 and 35, 16.88% of the total) were a significant portion along with people between 56 and 65 years (18.52%). For what concerns first dwelling reliefs, the figures show that the tax revenue collected through notaries have gone from 383,274,036 euro in 2016 to 424,411,523 in 2017, generating revenues equal to 10.5% despite the decrease in transactions for first residences equal to 4.5%. This might be the result of the increased cadastral value of the properties purchased in 2017 due to the update of the Land Registry Income currently carried out by city administrations. The regions that have reported an increase in the transactions for main dwellings have been Campania with +15% and a revenue increase equal to 14.73%, in Marche sales increased by 11.09% and tax revenue grew by 12.16%, Valle d’Aosta with an increase of 18.40% for property transactions and of 23.12% for revenues. The only region reporting negative values has been Abruzzo with sales decreased by -12.50% and tax revenue by -9,95%. The house types registering the highest number of tax relief request have been those of civil type A/2 (50% of the sample) and those of economic type A/3 (30%), while terraced houses A/7 representing only 10% of the sample. Source: Il Sole 24 Ore Translator: Cristina Ambrosi