Beach houses, sales boom in five years (while falling in the city)

The passion of Italians and (increasingly) foreigners for the sea does not stop. In 2023, residential property sales in Italy's main seaside resorts, including many second homes, grew by an average of +26.3% compared to 2019. In practice, this is a positive figure in five years and against the trend compared to that recorded in the eight metropolitan cities, where, on the other hand, purchases fell overall (by an average of -9.2% in five years) . This boosted prices in the maritime municipalities, which increased on average from the first half of 2019 to the first half of 2024 by no less than +26.7%, especially in Alassio (+45.8%), Viareggio (+44.5%) and Castiadas (+44.5%). While the highest average prices for the purchase of a new or renovated home are recorded in Portofino (19,450 euro/sq m, with peaks of up to 25,500 euro/sq m) and Porto Cervo (19,375 euro/sq m and peaks of up to 27,000).

According to an analysis by Abitare Co. - a real estate brokerage and services company specialising in new constructions-, which analysed 105 of Italy's most renowned coastal resorts, on a regional level Sardinia clearly outstripped the other regions (an average of +64.5 per cent of sales between 2019 and 2023). This is followed by Basilicata (+59.2 per cent), Sicily (+34.7 per cent) and Puglia (+30.3 per cent). But, surprisingly, there are some regions, which base much of their economic production on tourism and the beauty of their coasts, which have performed less well, such as Emilia-Romagna (+20.7%), Liguria (+17.6%), Tuscany (+15.5%) or Veneto (+14.8%).

Behind it all there is always the change of perspective since covid, the spread of 'remote' work that allows long weekends or 'operational' stays even out of the office for weeks at a time, the investment of accumulated savings, the house inherited or purchased through an inheritance. Tourism, then, has exploded throughout Mediterranean Europe, thanks also to geopolitical tensions and the difficulty or impossibility of reaching certain destinations.

According to Abitare Co., the top ten coastal municipalities, on average, have more than doubled their buying and selling compared to 2019: in first place we find Castiadas in Sardinia (+264.5 per cent buying and selling), followed by the island of Pantelleria in Sicily (+142.5 per cent), Portofino in Liguria (+130 per cent), Rodi Garganico in Puglia (+112.8 per cent) and Maratea in Lucania (+108 per cent).
But in the Top 10, Sardinia places four more resorts (five in all): in addition to Castiadas, we find Stintino (+87.1 per cent), Santa Teresa Gallura (+74.5 per cent), Porto Cervo (+78.6 per cent) and Arzachena (+61.3 per cent).

On the contrary, there was no shortage of surprises, with the ten least dynamic municipalities averaging a 20.7 per cent drop in exchanges compared to pre-covid times. The worst data concerns two pearls of the Amalfi Coast, Positano (-32.0%) and Sorrento (-28.6%), as well as Spotorno in the province of Savona (-28.8%). But sales also fell in other renowned territories such as the Ligurian Monterosso (-17.7 per cent), Bonassola (-26.4 per cent) and Portovenere (-24.6 per cent) and the Apulian Otranto (-7.3 per cent).