All data in the Residential Report presented today
The residential real estate market is growing for the fifth consecutive year. The 2018 closes, in fact, with an increase of 6,5% compared to the previous year, for a total of almost 580 thousand transactions and a turnover of over 94 billion. Among the major cities, the greatest increases are observed in Bologna, Palermo and Naples. Dynamics still positive for the affordability index, a measure of the possibility of access to the purchase of the house by families.
These are some of the data emerging from the Residential Real Estate Report created by the Real Estate Observatory of the Inland Revenue in collaboration with Abi, the Italian banking association.
The housing market - In the 2018 the residential market has registered 578.647 transactions, the highest figure since 2010 to date. The increase in sales was higher in the North East (+ 10,2%); followed by the Islands (+ 7,7%), the Center (+ 6,4%), the North West (+ 5,6%) and the South (+ 3,8%). The number of homes sold in bare ownership decreased slightly (-0,4%), especially in the South, where the decline was more marked (-6,6%). The total estimate of 2018 turnover is 94,3 billion, 53 of which (over 56%) referring to the North. The average area of the house purchased in the 2018 is approximately 106 m2.
The situation region by region and in the main cities - Emilia Romagna is the region with the greatest increase in the number of home purchases, with almost 52 thousand trades and a growth of 11,3%. Then there are the Marche (+ 10,2%) and the Veneto (+ 10%). The only one to show the minus sign is Basilicata, which loses 5,9%. Among the big cities, instead, Bologna stands out (+ 10,5%), followed by Palermo (+ 7,7%), Naples (+ 5,9%) and Turin (+ 4,3%). Good results also for Rome (+ 3%), Milan (+ 3,4%), Genoa (+ 3,6%) and Florence (+ 3,9%).
Appurtenances and parking spaces - In 2018, just over 69.600 pertinent deposits were exchanged nationwide, up 2017% compared to 8,4. Exchanges of garages and parking spaces are also growing with approximately 336.800 transactions, an increase of 5,2% compared to 2017.
Mortgage Loans - About 282 home purchases were made using a mortgage loan, up 8,8% over the previous year. Credit institutions have disbursed a total of € 35,7 billion, on average around € 126 thousand for each sale, with a peak of around € 142 thousand for the Center. The disbursed capital represents approximately 71% of the purchase cost. The average interest rate, applied to the first installment, drops by another 0,22 percentage points, thus reaching 2,17%. The average duration of the loan is essentially stable at 22,9 years and the average installment, equal to 585 euros per month, is down by 2,1% on 2017.
The locations - In the 2018 the number of rented dwellings was equal to 1.377.364, the 0,3% more than last year. The average annual rent paid for the house was in the 2018 of around 67 € / m2. 2018 confirms a higher average annual fee for student lease contracts (76,4 € / m2), the lowest in long-term ordinary contracts (65,2 € / m2).
The affordability index - Developed by the Abi Research Department, summarizes the analysis of the various factors (disposable income, house prices, trends, interest rates on mortgages) that influence the possibility for an average family to buy a home at average market price, by taking out a mortgage, and describes its trend. The higher the index value, the easier it is for the family to acquire a home by financing it with a mortgage. At the end of 2018, the index was 14,6%, 8 tenths more than the previous year, 10 percentage points more than the minimum point of the first half of 2012 and almost 5 percentage points higher than the first half of 2004. Second the monthly projections, in March 2019 the index would have stabilized on the high values of the end of last year. The growing trend of the index in 2018 is due, equally, to the reduction in the relative cost of houses (given by the ratio between house price and disposable income) and to the continuation of the trend of contraction in interest rates on mortgages: in detail, to at the end of 2018 the relative cost of houses was lower than the start of the survey for the first time (first half of 2004), while the interest rate on fixed-rate mortgages was 2,02%, lower by 3 tenths to the figure of a year earlier and 3 percentage points to the highs of the beginning of 2012. The distribution aspects also improved: in 2018 it rose to 78%, the percentage of Italian families for which the purchase of a home is accessible of the new historical maximum value. Furthermore, the improvement of the conditions of access to the purchase of a house is rather homogeneous at the territorial level; in particular, the accessibility condition (value of the affordability index greater than zero) is confirmed in all regions and reaches the historical maximum value for 18 of the 19 regions considered.