Houses, demand to buy grows but rental demand falls

Significant differences in the behaviour of rental prices and demand are also noticeable between large and small towns: demand pressure drops much more dramatically in the former (-26.4 per cent) than in the latter (-8.8 per cent). However, prices have risen more in small towns (+5 per cent) than in large ones (+3.7 per cent).

Supply, on the other hand, rose everywhere by double digits during the period, with increases of almost 40 per cent in large cities and more than 20 per cent in small ones. Among the different macro-areas of the Peninsula, the North-East is the one where the stock has increased the most in the last year (+36.6 per cent).

Turning to sales, the discourse is the opposite of that for rents. In fact, demand pressure has increased everywhere in the third quarter of the year, with increases always above +10%. The Islands even reached +15.3%, while the most contained rise occurred in the North-East (+10.8%).
It is precisely this last area, however, in which prices have grown the most in 12 months, +4.6%. On the contrary, one notes an almost absolute stability both in the South (+0.9%) and in the Islands (+0.7%).

Unlike in the case of rentals, large cities and small towns behave similarly in terms of demand in sales, with increases in both cases of around +12.5 per cent. Prices, however, only rose much more in the former case (+5 per cent) than in the latter (+2.1 per cent).
In terms of supply, the South and the Islands diverged from the national downward trend, with +4 per cent and +1.2 per cent respectively. Instead, very similar decreases, between -2 per cent and -3 per cent, were seen in the North-West, North-East and Centre.

In terms of rents, Valle d'Aosta is still the most expensive region to rent a house in Italy, with rents that have broken through the ceiling of 22 euros per square metre following an increase of 14.1 per cent in the last year. In second place is Lombardy (18.7 euros per square metre on average). Basilicata, on the other hand, remains the cheapest region in absolute terms (7.1 euros per square metre) and rents are down sharply compared to the third quarter of 2024 (-9.4 per cent).

Among the regional capitals, Milan remains unbeatable (22.5 euro per square metre), and is also the most expensive city on the Peninsula, but there has been no change over the past year (+0.1 per cent). Florence, on the other hand, which is in second place with 21.3 euro per square metre, continues to rise (+5.3 per cent over the period). Rome remains third (18.2 euro per square metre, up 11.2 per cent over the quarter) ahead of Bologna (17.1 euro per square metre).

In terms of buying and selling, on the other hand, Trentino-Alto Adige still holds the record as the most expensive region to buy a property, with an average of €3,573 per square metre (+3.8% in 12 months), while Calabria remains the cheapest, at €953 per square metre. Milan also leads the league table in terms of sales prices (€5,564 per square metre on average), up 2.3% compared to 12 months ago. Florence is second here too (€4,669 per square metre, up 9% in a year), while Bologna is just ahead of Rome (€3,685 per square metre compared to €3,641 per square metre).