According to the Italian Housing Market Survey carried out between 26 June and 21 July 2017 of 1,300 real estate agents, in the second quarter of 2017 the proportion of estate agents that reported downward pressures on housing prices diminished. Compared with the previous survey, the demand outlook showed signs of stabilization, both with regard to the number of potential buyers and to the discount on the seller's initial asking price; selling times lengthened slightly.
Most house purchases were financed with a mortgage (around 80 per cent). The loan-to-value ratio also remained at cyclically high levels, covering more than 70 per cent of the property’s value.
Compared with the second quarter of 2016, estate agents’ opinions regarding the short-term and medium-term outlook for their own market and for the domestic market as a whole are more optimistic.
