According to the Italian Housing Market Survey carried out between 3 and 27 April 2018 based on 1,534 real estate agents, in the first quarter of 2018 the share of real estate agents that reported downward pressures on house prices decreased slightly, while the share of replies indicating price stability (already in the majority) increased. Compared with the previous quarter's survey, the number of potential buyers rose, signalling that demand improved again. Selling times remained essentially unchanged.
The share of house purchases financed by mortgage loans remained very high, stabilizing at around 80 per cent. The loan-to-value ratio recorded high levels, standing at around 75 per cent. The share of real estate agents that blamed the cessation of sale listings on the difficulties experienced by buyers in obtaining mortgage loans remains very low, having reached, in the previous survey, the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 2009.
Expectations regarding the outlook for the real estate market continued to be favourable, in both the short and medium term, though slightly less so than in the previous quarter.
