Italian estate agents are feeling increasingly cheerful so is now the time to buy that dream casa?
- Confidence in property market improvement jumps 5 percentage points (Bank of Italy)
- Investors confident as interest on Italian debt touches record low of 2.666%
- International tourist arrivals increase 2.9% in 2013 (World Tourism Organization)
Italy’s estate agents are feeling cheerful. Well, 43% of them are at least. That’s how many forecast that their country’s housing market is going to improve in the next two years, according to a Bank of Italy survey conducted in May 2014. The figure has jumped from the previous survey’s confidence level of 38% back in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The survey marks a turning point for the Italian property sector, as Fabio Longo, director at Sankaty Advisors Inc, explains,
“The Italian real estate market has stronger fundamentals than other southern European markets and Italian banks’ provisions are improving… We see Italy as a core source of opportunities.”
The projected improvements to the property market are just one reason why Italy is looking strong for H2 2014. Another reason is the boost the economy has received of late thanks to Italian debt touching record lows of 2.666%.
With investor confidence driving economic improvement, the feeling is one of a starkly different environment than Italy has experienced over recent years. Gone are the concerns that Italy may need to join Portugal and Greece in receiving an international bailout. Instead, investors are now casting an appraising eye over Italy’s offerings. Patrick Jacq, bond strategist at BNP Paribas, comments,
“The fact that these rates continue to decline and there is no reversal shows that nobody sees issues that are likely to push yields higher.”
With its facts and figures in order, Italy could well be shaping up for a good H2 2014, but the country’s essential appeal is not quite so black and white, as Dawn Cavanagh-Hobbs of luxury holiday home company Appassionata explains,
“Over the last 10 years I’ve seen Italy experience the good times and the not so good times and it really feels as though the country has turned a corner now. Italy has so much to offer – a rich history, friendly culture, world-class cuisine, beautiful weather – it’s almost impossible to sum up the country’s charms in words. It’s more of a feeling – Italy just gets under your skin somehow and makes you yearn to keep coming back – it did us!”
The observation is certainly true so far as Italy’s visitor numbers are concerned. World Tourism Organization data shows that international tourist arrivals increase by 2.9% from 2012 to 2013, when 47.7 million visitors made Italy their holiday destination of choice.
With H2 2014 shaping up so well, many of those tourists are seeing now as the ideal time to invest in a second casa within Italy’s borders. The Le Marche region, where Appassionata is based, offers a taste of Italy that is unspoiled by mass tourism. Indeed, those purchasing a fraction of Appassionata’s Casa Tre Archi can enjoy traditional Italian town life for five weeks of every year from just £65,000.
The three bedroom, three bathroom Casa Tre Archi offers immediate access to the cafés, shops and piazzas of the medieval town of Petritoli, while still being within close proximity to several of the area’s pristine Blue Flag beaches. Three levels of outside space allow owners to soak up the sunshine as they gaze over Le Marche’s rolling landscape, with a glass of locally produced wine in hand, perhaps contemplating how lucky they were to have invested in Casa Tre Archi just before Italy’s economy surged back to life and drove prices up.
For more information on fractional ownership and the wonders of the luxury Italian urban lifestyle, contact the Appassionata team on 0039 073 465 8775 or visit www.appassionata.com.