Foreign buyers returning to Italian property market

Buyers are returning to the Italian property market which is picking up after a muted 2017 with the top end recovering the fastest, according to new research.

Sales of properties valued at €10 million plus have increased significantly and this is expected to filter down to lower priced homes in the coming year, says the latest analysis from international real estate firm Knight Frank.

Overall enquiry numbers for Italian homes were up 133per cent in 2017 year on year and buyers from Northern Europe are active, particularly those from within the Eurozone who have been able to take advantage of moderating prices without being penalised by any currency shift.

In the three months to March 2018, online property viewings by prospective buyers in the United States accounted for 11per cent of all searches on Knight Frank’s website. But the biggest group of buyers still come from the UK at 44.8per cent.

The next biggest group of buyers in the prime property market are from within Italy at 15.1per cent, then the US, then 2.6per cent from Australia, 2.6per cent from Germany, 2.4per cent from Canada, 2.3per cent from Switzerland, 2.2per cent from Denmark, 1.9per cent from the Netherlands and 1.8per cent from France.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2018, the report suggests that buyers are arguably facing the best quality stock for some years. ‘Where prices have plateaued we expect the market to gain traction as inventories diminish,’ said Amy Redfern, senior negotiator for Knight Frank’s Italian desk in a report by Propertywire.

She explained that in Italy home owners have displayed a reluctance to acknowledge the reality of softening prices over the last decade, which has boosted stock levels and drawn out the market’s recovery.