Foreign investors flock to Italy for real estate bargains from farmhouses to palaces
Italy is becoming an increasingly attractive destination to foreign real estate investors, according to the latest figures released by Real Capital Analytics Inc. The data show that foreign investment in Italian commercial real estate totalled €2.75 billion between January and early October this year, representing around 79% of all commercial real estate transactions.
- Foreign investment in Italian commercial real estate reaches 79% (Real Capital Analytics)
- Italy voted world’s Favourite Country (Condé Nast)
- Italy named best country for top hotels on the planet (International Traveller)
With the recent news that Italy is planning to sell off 50 historic buildings, with a view to raising £425 million in revenue for the government, the country is expected to attract even more interest from overseas over the coming months. The sites for sale include a cardinal’s palace, a castle near Rome and an island in the Venetian lagoon.
Italy expects that many of the historic buildings will be purchased by private businesses and investors, with a view to converting them into museums, restaurants and hotels. The move makes sense, given Italy’s continuing popularity as a leading tourist destination. The country is ranked as the fifth most popular destination globally by the World Bank and has just been voted Favourite Country in the 2013 Condé Nast Traveller Readers´ Travel Awards, beating a wide range of other popular EU and non-EU destinations.
Italy also took three of the top 10 positions when it came to Condé Nast readers’ Favourite Overseas Cities, with Rome, Venice and Florence all being placed. The news comes hot on the heels of the results of the International Traveller magazine survey, which found that Italy is the best country for top hotels on the planet, with an impressive 11 hotels featuring in the 100 Best Hotels and Resorts of the World report – more than any other country.
With overall confidence in the Eurozone continuing to rise, it’s not just commercial investors who are looking to snap up Italy’s property bargains. As house prices continue to decline, creating some extremely good value opportunities, many individuals are being tempted by that holiday home they’ve always wanted and are looking to Italy to find it.
The only problem with holiday homes – as with disused historic buildings – is the cost and effort that goes into maintenance and upkeep. Many owners find that their ‘holidays’ each year are devoted to cleaning, tackling the overgrown garden and undertaking minor repairs.
Dawn Cavanagh-Hobbs, founder of family-run company Appassionata, has the perfect solution. She explains,
“At Appassionata we have developed two luxury holiday homes, which we are selling as fractional ownership properties. Each owner gets to use their chosen home for five weeks of every year, while we take care of all aspects of the upkeep, including maintenance of the five acre estate in which the houses sit. The estate hosts olive groves, vineyards, a lavender plantation and a truffle orchard and owners share in the bounty that these produce.”
Of the two houses, which are based in the breathtakingly beautiful Le Marche region, only the five bedroom, five bathroom Casa Leopardi has fractions left for sale, at £195,000 each. With its own private pool and gym, and surrounded by terraces for outdoor dining, the property offers a level of luxury that most holiday home owners can only dream of.
For those who can’t quite stretch to buying their own Italian palace, and who don’t fancy becoming slaves to a holiday home that requires cleaning and maintenance the moment they arrive, Casa Leopardi offers the perfect solution. Perhaps unsurprisingly, fractions are selling fast – only three remain available, as increasing numbers of foreign purchasers look to Italy as their holiday destination of choice.
For more information contact Appassionata on 0039 073 465 8775, visit www.appassionata.com or take a video tour of Casa Leopardi.