Real estate in Italy can be divided into two main sectors: residential and commercial. The market is regulated by various professional organizations, including CONFEDILIZIA (representing property owners) and FIAIP (representing real estate agents).
Social housing and market history Italy has historically faced issues with insufficient social housing, especially in urban areas, where a shortage of residential housing and poor construction quality persisted from the 19th century through the post-WWII period.Sparke, P. (1990). A home for everybody? Design, ideology and the culture of the home in Italy, 1945–72. In Z. G. Baranski & R. Lumley (Eds.), Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy (pp. 229). McMillan. Between the 1970s and 2016, the Italian real estate market experienced cyclical fluctuations.Palma, M., Cappello, C., De Iaco, S., & Pellegrino, D. (2019). "The residential real estate market in Italy: A spatio-temporal analysis." Quality & Quantity, 53, 2451-2472. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the market saw a decline in 2020 but recovered in 2021 and 2022.International MLS Forum. (2024, October 1). The Italian real estate market: A quick and essential guide. MLS Forum The post-pandemic demand has shifted toward larger homes with private outdoor spaces.Morano, P., Di Liddo, F., & Tajani, F. (2024). The house–scale effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Italian property market. Land, 13(10), 1681.
Cultural and economic factors The Italian real estate market is influenced by a cultural emphasis on family ownership of property, with homes often acquired through inheritance. This contrasts with more commercialized markets like those in the United States and the United Kingdom.OECD/Triennale de Milan. (2023). Housing in Italy through the telescope and the microphone: International perspectives and experiences from housing project stakeholders. OECD Publishing. doi.org Moreover, Italy has avoided the severe financial crises caused by overheated real estate markets that affected the U.S. and other European countries in the 20th and 21st centuries, with many scholars arguing that the Italian market is more stable and less prone to drastic price fluctuations.Caliman, T. (2009). The risk of falling house prices in Italy. International Review of Economics, 56(4), 401–423. (p.421)
Italy has always been a country rich in real estate, in particular, luxury property. In 2024, the total value of Italian real estate assets is estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 billion euros. However, recent studies in 2025 on the real estate sector suggest that the exact figure is 16 trillion euros. A figure that takes into account Italy's unique cultural heritage and the overall recent and ongoing investments for its protection. Furthermore, if the assets that reside in Italy but owned by the Catholic Church and the Vatican State are inserted, this estimate is raised at 25 trillions of euros.
In 2024, the Italian real estate market had a significant increase in the sale of residential homes with 15.8%, mortgages for purchase grew by 5.7% and prices increased by 7.8%. In addition, there was a strong increase in purchases by foreigners, mainly from Germany, as well as residents of the United States and the United Kingdom. A total of 8,100 transactions for a value of over 5 billion euros and an average purchase value of around 640 thousand euros. The purchase of luxury and prestigious properties by foreign residents does not only occur for residential or housing purposes, but also as a form of investment.
In 2024, over 75% of Italians will own at least one home. Investing in a residential or holiday home is seen by Italians as a good investment that provides stability and security throughout their lives.
Background of Italian real estate In 2023, the total value of the real estate market in Italy was approximately 10.2 trillion US dollars or 9.0 trillion euros.IMARC. (2024). Italy real estate market report by property (residential, commercial, industrial, land), business (sales, rental, lease), mode (online, offline), and region 2025–2033. IMARC Group Some analysts believe that this market will experience sustained growth in the next five to ten years, driven by foreign investment, urban planning, urban infrastructure development, urbanization, and sustainable development projects.
Real estate in Italy can be broadly divided into the commercial sector and residential sector, among which the residential sector accounts for more than half of the transactions in 2020.Statista. (2024, January 10). Real estate in Italy – statistics & facts. Statista
The homeownership rate in Italy is among the highest in Western Europe, reaching 72%.Statista. (2021, December 2). Value of foreign investment in commercial property Italy H1 2020, by origin. Statista The commercial real estate sector in Italy was about 900 billion euros in 2020, and the northern part of Italy is the most valued site for commercial real estate investment.
The average price of residential properties for sale in April 2025 was about 2,099 euros per square meter, the peak over the past two years.Immobiliare.it. (2025). Property price data in Italy. Immobiliare.it In August 2023, the price was the lowest among the two years, which is 1,971 euros per square meter.
Among regions of Italy, the highest property prices were in Trentino Alto Adige (3,497 euros/m²), and the lowest in Calabria (948 euros/m²).
The Italian real estate market welcomes and sets no restrictions for foreign investment. In 2020, most of the foreign capital invested in Italian real estate came from Germany and the United Kingdom.
The social model of housing in Italy is that houses are often seen as family-based and people often acquire houses through inheritance. This view is different from countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, where houses are traded as financial assets.
The traditional view of housing and weak regulation have led to some illegal construction of low-quality dwellings as a cheap route to home ownership.Baldini, M., & Poggio, T. (2014). The Italian housing system and the global financial crisis. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 29, 11. Since the liberalization of the private rental market in the 1990s, social protection for tenants has also been poor.Baldini & Poggio, 2014, p.4
Protection and defense of the territory and real estate assets from threats Unfortunately, this immense real estate heritage is threatened by frequent destructive rains with floods and consequent landslides, earthquakes, arsons, abandonment and neglect, as well as degradation and dirt. All these elements have led to a sharp increase in the costs for their conservation and maintenance for Italian families, which for some in recent years has gradually become unsustainable. The Italian government has intervened by promoting maintenance and energy adaptation work with tax breaks that have helped to partially resolve the cost problem. But not all Italians have been able to access these tax breaks and restore their properties, in particular the lower income brackets, the less wealthy. The so-called "Superbonus 110%" tax measure has not been as effective as it was intended, only upper-middle class Italians have been able to take advantage of these tax benefits and renovate and restore their properties, adapting them to better energy classes. Despite the benefits for the energy transition, it has generated market imbalances and a limited impact on the real estate market. Furthermore, this measure has burdened public spending, not favoring a balanced budget of the Italian state.
In addition to the destructive elements due in part to climate change, there are also social ones that damage real estate assets such as illegal building, illegal occupation, theft, arson, pollution mainly committed by criminals, criminal gangs or criminal organizations. But the Italian State has deployed to combat these destructive elements, a civil protection among the best in the world, firefighters and police forces among the most efficient and organized that have limited and stopped these destructive phenomena. The Italian state has responded to illegal building with demolitions and restoration of the landscape, to illegal occupation with actions of eviction and evacuation of occupied structures, to thefts in homes and villas with arrests of criminal gangs that have blocked and limited the crimes, to the assets of criminal organizations it has responded with confiscation and reassignment, to arsons with preventive actions and control of the territory also with drones and limiting the damage with the work of civil protection, volunteers and the fire brigade, to pollution of the territory it has responded with actions of reclamation and restoration of the landscape. In conclusion, in recent years the Italian state has been increasingly determined to take actions to protect the territory and real estate.
Redevelopment of the territory and real estate assets In recent years, the Italian state, through local institutions, has been strongly committed to urban redevelopment with the demolition of dilapidated or degraded buildings both from a constructive and social point of view. An emblematic example is the demolition of the sails of Scampia in Naples, a symbol of architectural, social and moral degradation, that for decades was under the control of criminal organizations. The Italian State is currently carrying out a redevelopment action in Caivano, a model or method that it wants to extend to all parts of Italy. However, there is still much to be done to rehabilitate situations of urban decay, as currently happens, with city areas in the hands of criminal gangs of illegal immigrants. Criminal gangs composed mainly of illegal immigrants often compete for control of the territory for drug dealing and often under the management of criminal organizations give rise to frequent episodes of violence such as fights and acts of violence such as theft and rape against Italian citizens and tourists. These areas, which may be parts of towns and neighborhoods, may experience a temporary depreciation of the real estate assets depending on whether the degradation phenomenon continues or not. In recent years, Milan, for example, like many other Italian cities, has undergone this type of criminal evolution. The Italian state's response to these criminals is containment and repression with arrests, removals and expulsions from the national territory depending on the seriousness of the crimes.
Social housing Although the homeownership rate in Italy is high, Italy still maintains a series of social and welfare housing projects.Caruso, N. (2017). Policies and Practices in Italian Welfare Housing. Springer.
There are three types of supported housing in Italy:
Subsidized housing: rental housing provided by the public sector to low-income populations. Rents are about 25% of the market rate. Assisted housing: housing for both rent and sale, provided to low- and middle-income populations, with subsidies between 10%-60% of the cost. Agreed housing: private housing for rent or sale, with prices regulated by agreements between providers and municipalities.
In recent years, with the rise in housing prices and the instability of job opportunities, many people have difficulty obtaining stable housing. Some scholars believe that the proportion of social rent is too small, about 5.5% in 2015, and therefore is not enough to meet social needs.