Selling a property takes an average of four months in large Italian cities and up to six and a half months in the outskirts.
It takes between four and six months to sell a home in Italy. The figure comes from a recent study by estate agent group Tecnocasa, which analysed transactions across large metropolitan areas and provincial capitals, comparing sale times in January 2009 with those for the previous year.
The situation is worst in metropolitan outskirts where it takes an average of 169 days (five and a half months) to complete a sale, according to Tecnocasa. Genoa’s outskirts in particular record Italy’s longest sale times—a whopping 196 days (nearly six and a half months).
However, outskirts already performed weakly last year when it took 166 days to sell a home. Large city centres, by contrast, saw a much more substantial increase in sale times, even though they remain Italy’s fastest selling locations. It now takes an average of 138 days to get a buyer to part with their money in metropolitan centres—that’s 7% longer than it took last year.
That said, some cities fare noticeably better than others. Naples for example, has the most dynamic market, with sale times in the region of 111 days (3.7 months), followed by Milan (117 days) and Rome (118 days). At the opposite end of the rankings you find Verona, where it takes a whopping 174 to sell a property, then Palermo (169 days) and Bari (164 days).
Provincial capitals also saw sale times lengthen. It now takes an average of 155 days to get a buyer to commit, which is 4% longer than it took last year.
The reason for the slowdown?
“A greater supply of homes for sale allows buyers to have greater choice and postpone their purchase until they find a home to suit their requirements,” states Tecnocasa. “Add to this that the gap between vendors’ asking prices and buyers’ budgets requires far more negotiation and inevitably sale times become longer.”
