The quarterly Italian Housing Market Survey, carried out between 1 April and 8 May 2019 with the collaboration of 1,476 real estate agents, showed that in the first quarter of 2019 there was again no upward pressure on house prices. The balance between the percentage of estate agents reporting an increase in property prices and those signalling a decrease was negative, although slightly less so than in the previous quarter. The difference between selling and asking prices remained wide and is still the main cause of listings not being renewed.
Demand remained moderate overall, the share of agencies reporting that they had sold at least one property in the quarter January-March was smaller for the second quarter in a row and the negative balance between estimates of more or fewer potential buyers widened.
The outlook for the housing market for the current quarter has improved and expectations are broadly positive in the medium term.
