The market for Italian homes of interest to foreign buyers is difficult to define and quantify. Although there is plenty of market data available for Italy, it usually refers to Italian-driven demand for primary and second homes, often in urban areas, by the sea or on the slopes.
Many foreign buyers by contrast prefer to buy traditional homes in the countryside or in small rural villages, for which there are no specific indicators. Now, however, Italy magazine has taken a snapshot of this elusive market with its property index, which tracks the advertisements placed on the website.
The picture that emerges by analysing more than 11,000 properties is a mix of the expected and the thoroughly surprising.
Predictably, Tuscany is the most popular region, with 19.8% of all properties advertised on the site. It is also the second most expensive after Friuli Venezia Giulia (which, however, has too few properties to be statistically significant) with average prices of €837,268.
For this figure, you can expect to buy restored villas, huge apartments, medieval townhomes or very large farmhouses in need of renovation (such as this one). However, you can still bag a Tuscan home—usually a small barn in need of restoration—for as little as €30,000 .
The same amount also buys a building plot in another popular destination—Umbria. That said, Umbrian prices are significantly lower than Tuscany’s. Here you can get renovated villas and farmhouses, or really large country homes in need of renovation for an average of €637,129.
What’s even more surprising is that Umbria is cheaper than a large number of regions, from Lombardy and Lazio to Veneto and even Sicily, which has average values of €705,362 - although this figure may be skewed by a handful of really high end homes for sale in the region.
Another unexpected finding is that Umbria is only fourth in the pecking order of Italian regions, with 9.4% of all properties advertised. Both Abruzzo (with a staggering 19.1% of all advertisements) and Le Marche (with 9.9%) precede it, while Puglia follows it with 7.5%.
Perhaps a reason for these regions’ popularity is that they all are substantially cheaper than both Tuscany and Umbria. Average prices range from €227,175 (in Abruzzo) to €332,199 (in Le Marche), with which you can buy large apartments, country homes in need of restoration, but also the odd villa that has already been renovated. Like Tuscany, Abruzzo, Puglia and Le Marche also have properties for sale at €30,000, but here your money goes further than elsewhere. In Abruzzo, for example, you can buy a panoramic country home in need of renovation, which comes with two hectares of land. In Le Marche you get a renovated apartment with mountain views.
It takes at least €45,000 to buy a home in Piedmont, but then the region is highly sought for its vineyards (especially in the Langhe area) and lakeside homes. Indeed, average prices reach €541,948—that’s more than twice as much as what it takes to buy a home in Calabria, where values average €210,329. This budget fetches apartments or holiday homes in fashionable seaside resorts such as Tropea and Diamante, or larger villas and restored farmhouses inland.
But if it’s rock-bottom prices you are after, the place to head to is Basilicata, where they average €141,430. Even the most expensive property for sale in the Southern region—a small estate with four hectares, two country homes and a commercial building priced at €800,000—costs less than the average home in Tuscany.
At the opposite end of the price spectrum, where in Italy is the most expensive home of all? Neither in Sicily, although a villa in Taormina costs a neat €20m, nor in Tuscany, where a whole medieval hamlet is for sale at a whopping €30m. No, it’s in Campania, on the island of Capri, where a panoramic villa with helipad will set you back a cool €35m.
Top ten regions by ad volume
Tuscany 19.8%
Abruzzo 19.1%
Marche 9.9%
Umbria 9.4%
Puglia 7.5%
Piedmont 6.3%
Lombardy 5.5%
Calabria 4.4%
Liguria 3.0%
Sicily 2.9%
Top five regions by average price
Tuscany, € 837,267.88
Veneto € 748,410.53
Lazio € 735,411.08
Sicily € 705,361.88
Trentino Alto Adige € 699,166.67
Note: Friuli Venezia Giulia has higher average prices than Tuscany but has not been included in the ranking as the number of properties advertised is too low to be statistically significant
Five most affordable regions by average price
Basilicata € 141,430.23
Calabria € 210,329.48
Abruzzo € 227,174.67
Puglia € 234,166.92
Molise € 235,648.65
Note: the Aosta valley has lower average prices than Calabria but has not been included in the ranking as the number of properties advertised is too low to be statistically significant
