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Funds, the recovery goes on

07 July, Milano Finanza

The recovery of the Italian property market continues at a fast pace, and the property funds market is gradually consolidating. The growth is aligned with the global trend of the sector which reached last year assets for 2,830 billion euro, the second-best performance ever, as confirmed by the 2018 report “Property funds in Italy and abroad” by Scenari Immobiliari in collaboration with Casadei. The Nav (Net Asset Value) of property funds reached 53 billion euro in 2017, having increased by 10.4% from the previous year. According to Scenari Immobiliari, the outlook for 2018 is for a “realistic” 55 billion, aligned with the rest of Europe, where the sector is mature. The real estate assets directly owned are equal to 58 billion, including international investments, increased by 8.4% from the previous twelve months.

2018 looks positive, and the trend is aligned with the previous year based on the figures gathered by the asset management companies. These manage around 420 property funds, with 1,200 employees and with total revenues of around 320 million euro. Asset managers are confident regarding the future of the sector, and more in general of the country, whereas the long-term outlook is uncertain. For what concerns the next three to five years, only one-third of the companies expects a negative trend, while another one-third expects an improvement, and over a half thinks the market will stay stable. Concerning transaction prices, asset managers believe these will remain unchanged across all the segments, except for warehouses whose values are expected to reduce according to 40% of the players. 40% think that the hospitality sector will grow.

Concerning the areas of the country where to find the best investment opportunities in the next three years, the companies of the sector believe that the best areas are the north and the centre for all segments, expect the hotel one, where the centre and the south are the favourites for attracting real estate investments.

More in detail, the asset managers think that the north-west of Italy might be the best area where to invest in coworking spaces (93%), student housing and offices (87%). Regarding the north-east, there’s a lot of interest in logistics (80%) and industrial properties (67%). Central Italy has the most interesting investment opportunities concerning hotel (73%), residential properties (53%), offices and warehouses (87%).  Finally, the south is the most attractive for investing in hotels (67%), followed by commercial properties specialised in mass retailing (27%).

Source: Milano Finanza

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi