Omi: house sales up 8.1% year-on-year in Q2

Geopolitical and macroeconomic tensions, but also rates that have gradually fallen (although they have now stopped). The residential market, in spite of everything (or badly), is confirmed to be growing throughout the country in the second quarter of 2025, with residential property sales registering an increase of 8.1% compared to the same period in 2024. This is what emerges from the statistics of the Observatory of the Real Estate Market (Omi) available on the website of the Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency), which collects data on purchases and sales in the residential, non-residential and land sectors for the period April-June 2025.

The increase - the Report emphasises - concerns all territorial areas, both in the capital cities and in the smaller municipalities. Large cities do not escape this trend, with Turin and Palermo showing double-digit growth rates (+11.3% and +10% respectively).
The rental market is also on the rise: nationwide, the number of homes for which a new contract was registered increased by 1.5% compared to 2024.

Tertiary and commercial properties, on the other hand, drove the non-residential sector, which grew by 5% compared to the same period last year. In particular, properties in the tertiary-commercial sector (+6.2%) recorded the most conspicuous increases. Within this sector, transactions in shops (+6.1%), commercial warehouses (+5.1%) and offices (+4.2 per cent) increased. There was also a sharp rise for agricultural properties (+9.5 per cent). Finally, land sales are also on the rise again. In the second quarter of 2025, the land market returned to growth, recording +3.2 per cent compared to the same period of 2024, thanks mainly to the driving force of the South and the Islands: more than 37,000 hectares of land were bought and sold, around 1,100 hectares more than in the same period of 2024.

Residential purchases and sales grew by 8.1% in the second quarter of the year compared to 2024, but the recovery has already peaked and the market "while maintaining a good vitality begins to feel the effects of macroeconomic uncertainties and the progressive weakening of household purchasing power". This was highlighted by the Nomisma Observatory on the real estate market, analysing the data on the sector presented today by the Agenzia delle Entrate, which also record a 1.5% increase in new lease contracts.
According to Nomisma, despite the increase reported between April and June, the second half of 2025 will open under the banner of uncertainty: geopolitical tensions, ongoing conflicts and the weakening of purchasing power are curbing the economy's growth forecasts, with repercussions on the real estate sector as well. Supply, it is pointed out, "remains rigid despite the reduction in interest rates and the loosening of mortgage criteria, while at the same time there is a growing potential demand as a result of structural factors and a latent need that has settled over time".
The sectors that respond best, Nomisma further emphasises, are those of digital infrastructures, "rent to buy" in residential, student housing and logistics
"In an increasingly segmented market, first home purchases are expected to grow against a drop in new homes," notes Elena Molignoni, head of the Nomisma Observatory, in a note. "The sector is more oriented towards heritage conservation than expansion, with redevelopment taking over from new construction.