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Florence: Mps is selling its building in Via de’ Pecori. Harrods might be the buyer

12 July, La Repubblica

Harrods might be one of the candidates for Palazzo Orlandini del Beccuto, built in the 14th century, in Via Pecori, a few steps away from Piazza della Repubblica. The building has a great historical and architectonical value, featuring frescoes, wide spaces and an auditorium for conferences. It currently accommodates the regional offices and a branch of Banca Mps. The bank, in fact, is thinking to put the property for sale according to its optimisation and cost reduction plans.

After a century, Mps might sell the building it bought in 1913, and Harrods might be one of the candidates. The department stores company, in fact, has been looking for a location in the Florence city centre since long. However, the divestiture process will be long, as the bank admitted, and it’s too early to talk about potential buyers, even though the rumours say that the agreement between the bank and the London group has already been entered. Anyway, the only thing that is certain is that Mps has started to get rid of its offices, transferring some functions and the staff to the Mps Capital Service offices in Novoli.

Mps has about twenty properties in Florence only, including the building with a two thousand Sq m surface in Via Giovanni del Pian dei Carpini, between Novoli and Rifredi, which was the most recent headquarter of the bank before the merger of the Florence offices with the Siena ones. Always in the city centre of Florence, there are 1,150 Sq m in Via Ricasoli, 790 Sq m in Via Maso Finiguerra, 558 Sq m plus other 280 in Via Cavour, and 386 Sq m in Piazza San Lorenzo.

Nomisma confirmed the appeal of Florence, thanks to a trend that has been going on since long: the city continues to be the target for a robust real estate speculation. The market is second only to Milan, and a house every four is bought for investment. According to Nomisma, “The Florence residential market has been registering for several quarters an increase in the demand, for rental as well as purchase. Florence is one of the most interesting cities in the country, reporting a good number of purchases for investments: 23% of the total transactions”.

The figures are taken from the Second Observatory on the Property Market by Nomisma for 2018. The company reports that “The Florence residential market registered the best performance besides Milan. The market has provided excellent results especially for what concerns rentals, with rents constantly increasing each semester (the average yearly variation is equal to 0.9% and nearly 2% in the city centre and the suburbs). Prices, on the contrary, haven’t reported a steady positive trend yet. The average variation per semester, in fact, is equal to -0.1% for dated properties and -0.2% for renovated ones. The selling times for dated properties have been reducing on a yearly basis, setting at four months for houses in prime locations and the city centre. The renting times are also reducing: around two months for all the central locations.  The average discounts applied are generally stable and comprised between 8% in the suburbs and 18% in the centre. For what concerns the second part of 2018, the outlook for the residential market is positive, with possible increases in the transactions and the prices of properties and rents”.

Source: La Repubblica

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi