10538 Italian property sales down

Interesting... but no reduction in prices. My impression was that there'd been a reduction in prices locally, but I've no evidence. Perhaps normal economics doesn't apply in Italy.

From these statistics it would appear that buying a house in Italy is quite a good long-term investment.

The reason might be that there is less business done on credit or in mortgages so although people are not moving as much, the prices have remained stable.

I missed the stats - but the normal rules of economics are holding in Italy, as they are in the UK. The market is the sale of property, not maximising the number of transactions.
If property prices in general have fallen, but there is no need to sell a house then it stays on the market at a higher price and doesn't sell until the market recovers.
It is not efficient, but it is the same in the UK, prices fall so fewer people move. Only the desperate accept lower prices.

I spoke with an Italian Estate agent friend the other day and he predicted that the first to go to the wall will be all the agents targeting the UK market. Those selling to the Italians and other Europeans like Dutch, German etc will at least not have to take the falling exchange rate into consideration.

He seemed quite pleased at the thought that a few get rich quick stranierie may be packing their bags and leaving the Italian estate agents to get on with things. He seemed to think that fewer agents will mean that what sales there are, will at least be earning money for Italians.

What does it matter if prices fall for your house? If you sell, you usually buy another house - which has also fallen in price - so nothing has changed. Hype and panic over.

Julian, I think that's a sensible attitude – not least because that's how I've thought for years.

But there are those who persist in seeing their home as primarily an investment, as one whose value should [I]only[/I] be allowed to go up, and then preferably at a much higher rate than anyone else's property.

Castigation accepted - "desperate" may be the wrong word.
For those who are not forced to move, or who do not want to sell their current property to buy a bigger/better one, then lower prices are unlikely to encourage them to sell (especially if it is a casa coloniche acquired through inheritance).
So total transaction volume goes down.

[quote=Nielo;98913]I spoke with an Italian Estate agent friend the other day and he predicted that the first to go to the wall will be all the agents targeting the UK market. Those selling to the Italians and other Europeans like Dutch, German etc will at least not have to take the falling exchange rate into consideration.

Nielo, we must have a mutual friend(!) for we had the exact same conversation over coffee the other morning with a local real estate agent. Sure, the market is far quieter than it has been and she previously had good links and associated business in the US, which of course has virtually dried up. But she said the cash conscious Dutch were moving in like never before and that some, ironically, especially British vendors, were open to much reduced offers and that properties were moving if priced realistically. The Arabs and the Russians are still buying, though at the extreme end of the scale and bargaining hard, including hotels apparently.

hi there,
I think this is right time to invest in Italy property but i have a friend in Italy, who is still searching for a house, describes Italian property purchases as a dance of seven veils. You find a promising property and then, as you investigate more, you find it’s more complicated than you thought. The Italian system of [I]condono[/I], or retrospective planning permission, could mean that work has been done without authority and is technically illegal and only because of this he said that don't worry about Italy property sales down and this also this is not effected on Italy property market because it has already to many complications.

Azeemi, I'm sure most people approach the Italian housing market with their eyes wide open, if they don't, they're certainly in for a very nasty shock. The system is certainly different to what most British buyers are used too, there are possibly more potential complications too. But common sense (and a sense of humour) will see you through.
We bought a large property that had been remodelled by various owners over the years and we were suspicious of whether all the alterations had been done legally. But we employed a lawyer and he took care of the searches and in conjuction with a local geometra confirmed that everything had been carried out properly. (I still have copies of all the various planning applications going back 10/15 years in the house purchase file.)
But there are many more issues than this one, determining who the rightful owners are is one we encountered with our first place. Far easier nowadays but transferring funds from an overseas account to your Italian bank account used to be very hit and miss, and if you've signed a compromesso to say you're going to pay the vendor a certain amount of money on a certain day, that is a major worry. I'm sure others will come up with further pitfalls but I frankly believe you don't get anything for nothing, and whatever it takes to buy a house in Italy, it's certainly worth it. V

Chattiing with a friend today - a long chat as we walked in the mountains up to 2700 metres - and she is looking to buy in Torino where she now rents. She keeps a close eye on prices and was saying that they have come down sharply. She's looking to buy in the next year but is not in a hurry just at the moment as the trend is still downwards.

Perhaps prices will come down in Italy too. She wasn't prepared to comment on Valle d'Aosta prices as she hasn't been following them, but she was quite definite about Torino.