Italian Housing Market Survey. Short-term Outlook - 2019 Q2

The Italian Housing Market Survey has been released for the second quarter of 2019.

The survey looks at current trends and short-term expectations for the residential real estate market and is conducted by the Bank of Italy together with Tecnoborsa and Agenzia delle Entrate.

The quarterly Italian Housing Market Survey, carried out between 24 June and 19 July 2019 with the collaboration of 1,499 real estate agents, showed that in the second quarter of 2019, the vast majority of real estate agents continued to report stable selling prices. The difference between selling and asking prices is still the main cause of listings not being renewed.

Assessments regarding demand in the second quarter were mostly favourable: the share of agencies reporting that they had sold at least one property in the quarter April-June increased and selling times continued to decline. However, the negative balance between estimates of more or fewer potential buyers widened. Positive signs came from the rental market: there was a significant increase in the share of agencies reporting that they had rented at least one property.

However, for the current quarter the majority of estate agents reported unfavourable conditions in their own market. Indications regarding the domestic market remained positive, but were more cautious.