Between 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, sold in Italy 4,163 properties, more than one million euros
In 2021, sales were 2,400, up by 46% compared to 1,640 in 2020; in the period January-March 2022, the number was 123
After booming in 2021, the luxury real estate market suffered a setback. According to the “Report on residential real estate above one million euros” compiled by Reopla, a company part of the Sprengnetter Group specializing in big data analysis and Avm (Automated Valuation Model) software and solutions for the real estate sector, between 2020 and the first quarter of 2022, 4,163 properties worth more than one million euros were sold in Italy. Specifically, however, while there were 2,400 sales in 2021, up 46 percent from 1,640 in 2020, the number was 123 in January-March 2022. A figure that is down from last year but not exhaustive for drawing consequences for the current year’s trend
“In the first quarter, the numbers look small compared to 2021, but it is too early to estimate annual trends and to assess the impact the current geopolitical situation might have on the real estate market. First, because data on purchases and sales are only available several months after the closing of negotiations, and then because the industry has very long reaction times, even in the case of major events,” commented Patrick Albertengo, co-founder and managing director of Reopla, who then explained: “There will certainly be a slowdown in the overall real estate market over the next 6-12 months due to the combined effect of several factors, such as rising inflation, rising interest rates on mortgages, compounded by the scarcity of chips and commodities slowing down all construction sites started on the wave of incentives for building work on a real estate stock that largely needs to be renovated.”
But luxury real estate seems to hold better cards than the rest of the real estate market. “This slowdown will be much less noticeable for real estate purchases and sales worth more than 1 million euros because in this market segment, there is generally less recourse to mortgages, and the rise in inflation has a more limited impact.”
Luxury real estate: regions with the highest high spenders
In Italy, however, high spenders do not have the same buying patterns. More than 40 percent of luxury property buyers are in Lombardy, with 1,703 properties traded; in second place is Lazio, which with 804 purchases and sales exceeds 19.3 percent, while in third place is Tuscany (588), which stands at 14.1 percent. Closing the top 5 regions are Campania (312) and Sardinia (268).
Luxury real estate: the provinces with the highest high spenders
The provinces’ rankings closely follow those of the regions.
In first place, with 1,487 properties, is Milan, where 35.7 percent of total purchases and sales occur. In the second position, Rome is much further behind, with 776 properties (18.7 percent of the total), located mainly in the city’s historic center. It is followed by the province of Lucca, with 376 properties (9 percent), Naples, 280 negotiations, and Sassari (244).
“Milan, with its high concentration of corporations, banks, and financial companies as well as a general average salary almost 17 percent higher than the national average, is the ideal place of concentration in our country for the wealthiest social class,”
Albertengo commented, “Milan has the most ‘liquid’ real estate market in Italy even in the high-value real estate sector, as evidenced by the smaller gap between properties for sale and properties sold compared to the rest of the country.”
Prices per sqm of luxury properties
On average, the price per square meter in Lombardy’s capital is now over € 5,000/sqm, with peaks of over € 15,000/sqm, and so even relatively small properties (100sqm) mark values above € 1 million in central areas. In general, for a luxury property, the average purchase price in Lombardy stands at €1,730,513; a gap that is therefore minimal from the average recorded in the other regions, since in Lazio it is, in fact, €1,725,960, in Campania €1,722,588, and Tuscany €1,711,710.
