Leases, it is an emergency in Italy. But multifamily does not take off

These days there is alarm about the possibility of paying rent for a single person in large cities. In some, then, not even a young couple can cope with rents that exceed the average affordability. This is what emerges from an analysis by Immobiliare.it Insights, which compared the monthly amount that a person can allocate for rent - no more than 30% of their average net income - with the average rent required for a two-room apartment in large cities. The most difficult city is Florence, where the average monthly asking price is €1,066, but the budget available to a single person on average does not exceed €480. Milan has the highest rent - over 1,320 euro per month - and although the budget available is the largest, at just over 650 euro, it is insufficient.

The answers lie, on the one hand, in social housing and, on the other, in multifamily, i.e. investment in the residential sector by large institutional investors who then reserve rent for families and singles. The report "Una casa per tutti: la locazione in Italia", prepared by Scenari Immobiliari in collaboration with AbitareCo, and which Il Sole 24 Ore is able to anticipate, is dedicated precisely to this sector.

Approximately 6.8 million homes are used for rental in Italy by residents and continuous users, in addition to which there are approximately 700,000 residential units for short-term rental, 21% of the total housing stock (19% if we consider only ordinary rental). Of the more than 1.1 million ordinary contracts signed every year in our country, more than 65% concern houses located in municipalities with high housing tension (a.t.a.). If this number describes the flows and pressures, not only of property but also of interest, of certain areas of the national reality - in particular of the 14 metropolitan cities that absorb 45% (30% considering the total number) - on the other hand, the complementary volumes, concerning minor centres with high supply and limited demand, describe a market more than ever linked to an economic need and the inability of families to access mortgages.

"In spite of this, the multifamily sector is struggling to develop for cultural reasons," comment Scenari Immobiliari, "which are struggling to be changed because closed deals are very limited and concentrated in a few national realities, especially Milan. This does not allow for the experimentation that leads to changing habits on the demand side and, on the supply side, does not allow for the creation of economies of scale in the supply chain, both in terms of investment and realisation and in terms of management".

In 2023, thanks to a positive fourth quarter in which the investment volume stood at just under EUR 2.9 billion, realigning with the average of previous years, allocations reached EUR 6.5 billion, some 45 percentage points below the figure recorded in 2022 (EUR 12 billion), which, together with 2019, represents a record year for Italy. About 65% of the capital originated from international investors (more than half from Europe and about a quarter from North America).