Mountain destinations, the market is holding but prices are not rising

12 December, La Stampa

“We consistently report an interest from the market. At the same time, prices per Sq m are not changing are they don’t seem to grow”. Beatrice Pinelli, Fimaa (the national brokers federation) representative in Turin, specialised in properties in mountain destinations, is very cautious when evaluating the trend of the 2017 winter season.

The sector, since last year, has had a similar trend than that of residential. “prices have dropped with the recession and with the necessity of many to sell properties that they seldom used and that were heavily taxed. Without considering the maintenance costs, which are very high in mountain houses”. Expensive houses, often too big and that require massive requalification works: very few people have the money to do this.

However, the price drop corresponding to the end of the recession has wakened up the interest of the mountain lovers that now can buy properties at convenient prices. In Bardonecchia, one of the best-performing destinations due to the fact that it’s visited also during the summer, a house in good conditions can be found on the market for 2,000 euro per Sq m, the best ones can reach 4,500 euro per Sqm.

Buying for investment is more complicated. “The profitability of a mountain house has reduced due to a series of factors – explains Pinelli – First of all, the lifestyle has changed and almost nobody rents all year long. For season rentals, the high season doesn’t go anymore from the beginning of November to the end of April, rather from December through March. Considering costs, who want to buy the rent finds more profitable the city market, at least for what concerns Turin, rather than renting to tourist or students”.

The trend of the touristic winter market is very varied: “The locations changed a lot one from the other, the best-performing ones are those offering a little bit of everything, such as Bardonecchia: with Sestriere nearby, it attracts ski and sports lovers but it offers less in more strictly touristic terms”. There are locations badly suffering from the crisis, like Grange Sises: “basically abandoned”. The villages located in the valleys like Pragelato are a different story altogether, where the market is still holding but prices are halved. We can find the same situation in Val d’Aosta, where besides the thriving Courmayeur (one of the most expensive tourist destinations in Italy, reaching over 11 thousand euro per Sq m, according to Fimaa-Nomisma), the other destinations report different results according to the type of clients and offer. Mountain destinations in the province of Cuneo register good results, “where prices have always been low and the area hasn’t registered any significant price drop – says Pinelli -. Basso Piemonte too has a good quantity of clients, attracting people from the neighbouring Liguria, that allowed the region to keep the same values”.

Source: La Stampa

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi

Email

Linkedin

Twitter

Google