Words by Carla Passino
Trying to sell your home in Italy? Expect it to take a little while longer than in the past - but not too much.
Italian estate agent conglomerate Tecnocasa has just published a report that looks at sale times across Italy between January 2009 and January 2010. The results are far less dramatic than the initial impact of the credit crunch seemed to imply.
Yes it does take a little while longer to sell a property in the Bel Paese - but only if you live in a big city.
In large metropolitan areas such as Milan, Rome, Palermo or Naples, sale times now average 157 days, against the 137 it took a year ago. This is a 15.4% increase over January 2009. Palermo tops the list of the slowest cities, with average sale times of 216 days, while Naples is the fastest at 118.
Sale times only went up by 8% in urban outskirts - but the absolute number of days it takes to sell a home there is much longer. Vendors can expect their suburban property to be on the market for an average of 188 days (against 174 in January 2009), and up to 231 in the Palermo area. The Verona outskirts are also quite slow at 220 days, whereas sales are quickest in the Florentine periphery, where homes actually sell faster than in the city centre (at 135 days against 152).
Out in the provinces, sale times are virtually unchanged over a year ago. It now takes 167 days to sell a home in a provincial capital, against 168 in January 2009. When it comes to a speedy sale, no place beats Massa Carrara. It takes just over three months (96 days) to sell a home in the northwestern Tuscan province. Venice, Siena, Viterbo and Lucca all follow closely with sale times of less than 118 days.
However it must be noted that, while properties in the most dynamic provinces have a quicker turnaround than those in the liveliest cities, average sale times in large metropolitan centres still remain noticeably shorter than anywhere else in the country (157 days against 167 for provincial capitals). This is because demand remains strongest for city centre homes across Italy.
The three fastest selling cities
The three fastest selling metropolitan outskirts
The three fastest selling provincial capitals
Massa Carrara 96 days
Venice 103 days
Siena 112 days
