Prices up in liguria and venice as italian property sales rise 50pc

Lots of attention has been given to the election of the country’s new government, led by Enrico Letta, which has decided to postpone the June payment of Italy’s controversial IMU tax introduced by the last PM. But it is the “economic landscape rather than the political one which will have the greatest bearing on buyer activity”, says Knight Frank.

Mainstream house prices have fallen in Italy by 12.3 per cent from the market peak (Q2 2008), which is far lower than the eurozone average of 8 per cent, but “unlike its counterparts Spain and Ireland, Italy did not experience a housing market boom and bust”, adds Knight Frank’s report.

With investors looking for long-term lifestyle purchased rather than short-term returns, sales are on the up. A record number were agreed by the firm in 2012/2013, 50 per cent higher year-on-year, helped by sellers “increasingly taking stock of market sentiment” when pricing their property.

“There is a general acceptance of the current, slow-changing economic scenario and an unwillingness to delay purchase decisions any longer,” reads the report.

Indeed, Italy remains on the radar for super-rich buyers, with sales of property over £6 million recorded in Tuscany, Umbria and Liguria. Brits may not be such big spenders thanks to the weak pound, but Scandinavian and Benelux buyers are stepping up their activity, with the Scenari Immobiliari research institute finding second home sales to overseas buyers were up by 14 per cent in 2012.

Liguria and Venice saw prime prices rise the most of Italy’s prime regions, with values increasing by around 5 per cent in the three months to March 2013.