In Trentino-South Tyrol higher mortgages, 70% on first home

In Italy almost half of residential purchases and sales are backed by a mortgage and there are about 6.5 million Italians with an active contract. The amounts requested, age of the borrowers, loan to value and interest rates vary greatly, however, across the boot. "In the first half of the year, demand for new mortgages grew by 20 per cent," says Stefano Rossini, managing director of MutuiSupermarket.it, the online platform that allows you to compare the offerings of credit institutions.

The average amount requested, for example, is higher in Trentino Alto Adige, where there is a record of over 190,000 euro. Lombardy, Lazio and Emilia-Romagna follow in order, with an average mortgage amount of around 146,000 euro. Overall, these are four regions where the value of the homes bought and sold and supported by a mortgage is higher than average. At the opposite end of the scale are Valle d'Aosta, where the average mortgage value stops at 95,000 euro, or Basilicata, Calabria and Puglia with amounts of less than 110,000 euro.

Significant differences also emerge inloan-to-value, i.e. the amount of the loan requested in relation to the purchase price of the home. The record is held by Valle d'Aosta, with 85% coverage, immediately followed by Basilicata, where an average of 79.9% of the value of the property is requested. Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo follow, both with 78.5%. Thelowest loan-to-value, on the other hand, is recorded in Lazio (71.6%), Campania (71.7%) and Trentino Alto Adige (72%).

More in detail, breaking down the analysis in the large cities, we go from an average loan to value of 80.1% recorded in Turin to the 89.6% recorded in Bari. In between we find the data recorded in Naples, Milan and Florence (80.2%, 80.4% and 80.5% respectively) or in Rome (82.1%) and Bologna (83.7%).

In a phase characterised by the European Central Bank's freezing of rates, with a new cut of 25 basis points expected no earlier than the beginning of 2026, Italians prefer fixed rates. The region with the highest share of preference is Calabria, with 96.2% of fixed-rate mortgage applications, followed by Veneto, Lazio, Liguria (with 92.8%) and Sicily (93.3%). Less inclined to fixed rates are the applicants from Basilicata (83.3%), Umbria (85.7%), Marche (85.5%), Emilia-Romagna (87.6%) and Tuscany (88.1%).