Portugal 
Spain 
Greece 
Recovery of the property market. Palermo, Naples and Milan are booming
The growth of the real estate residential market has consolidated in the first semester of 2017, as shown by the Survey by Ufficio Studi Gabetti. A memo s explains that “the fundamental elements have been: the increased number of transactions and the reduction of the time to close a deal, in a context where prices have only slightly changed”. At national level, according to the analysis, in the first six months of 2017, the residential transactions have been 267,506, +6% compared to the same period in 2016. All the macro areas have registered a positive variation: +6.4% in the North, +5.5% in the Centre, and +5.3% in the South. Generally, the variation reported for provincial capitals have been +5.3% and +6.3% for the other cities. The biggest positive variation was recorded in the non provincial capitals of the North (+7.2%), followed by the Centre (+6.7%). Regarding the first eight Italian cities, 49,637 transactions have been registered in total, +7.3% compared to the same period in 2016. Similarly, the remaining provincial capitals have registered a variation of +5.8%. Throughout the whole six months period, Palermo has shown the biggest growth (+14.6%), followed by Naples (+9.5%) and Milan (+8.3%).
Similar trends have been reported in Florence (+7.7%), Genoa (+7.4%), and Rome (+7%). Turin has shown a +5.2% variation, while Bologna has been substantially steady (-0.5%). On the overall, the average price variation in the first semester has been of -0.7%, but with some distinctions: Milan (+0.9%), Bologna (+0.5%), Naples (+0.4%), and Florence (+0.1%) have shown a turnaround, registering positive variations, even if little. Rome (-0.4%), Turin (-1.2%), Palermo (-2.2%), and Genoa (-3.5%)have registered a fall of prices. The average times to finalize a sale have reduced, going from an average of 5 months in 2016 to 4.8 months in the first semester of 2017.
The figures from Banca d’Italia regarding loans to families to buy a house have shown a positive variation in the first semester. The total amount issued has been 12.3 billion in the first quarter, +11.5% compared to the same period in 2016.
Translator: Cristina Ambrosi