According to the Italian Housing Market Survey carried out between 25 June and 20 July 2018 based on 1,478 real estate agents, in the second quarter of 2018 the share of estate agents that reported falling housing prices continued to fall, while the share of replies indicating price stability increased. The share of estate agents that reported unchanged demand conditions rose to about two thirds, while the share of those indicating an improvement decreased. The average discount on initial asking prices declined.
The share of house purchases financed with a mortgage and the loan-to-value ratio both remained high. The cessation of listings was still mainly due to the gap between asking prices and offers; the share of real estate agents that blamed the difficulties experienced by the buyers in obtaining home purchase loans remained very low.
Expectations regarding the outlook for the real estate market continued to be favourable, in both the short and medium-term, though less so than in the previous quarter.
