2014 officially closed with a growth in real estate sales by 1.6%. Also the disbursement of mortgages is improving, with an increase by 9.2% if compared to the previous year.
Turnaround for the housing market in Italy, which is coming back after 7 years of declines: according to ISTAT, 2014 closed with an increase by 1.6% on 2013 and a total of 594,431 sales. The increase covers all geographical areas except for the islands, where instead there has been a decrease by 1%.
The best performances were mainly in big cities: the notarial archives of major cities recorded a + 2.9% of sales, compared to + 0.6% in small towns.
The result of the fourth quarter of the year (+ 4.9% on the same quarter of 2013) contributed to the positive trend of the year, as well as those of the first (+ 1.3%) and third (+ 3.7%) while in the second quarter there was a decline by 3.1%. Between October and December, 92.5% of sales involved residential properties (155,909), 6.8% commercial properties (11,411). The recovery involved both, but mainly commercial properties (+ 9.2%, compared to + 4.8% for residential real estates).
Even for mortgages and loans, 2014 is a year of growth: + 9.2% on 2013, for a total of 278,447 transactions. Major increases are registered in the South of Italy (+ 13.6%), Centre (+ 12.8%) and in the Islands (11.2%). With 77,368 transactions, the fourth quarter of 2014 contributes significantly: the increase on the same quarter in 2013 is 13%.
If prices have reached the lowest level, this means that buying in Italy now, will allow to buy for the best prices and make great deals. With a recovering market, prices can do anything else but increase again, giving back original value to Italian real estates.
