Rents, in big cities only 35% choose '4+4'. Growth in agreed and transitional contracts

"The growth of agreed rental contracts, both the '3+2' and the transitory ones, is a positive fact and belies the controversy about the damage that short rentals would do to the market. On the contrary, it is an opportunity to zero the Imu tax on subsidised contracts so as to give a further boost," notes Giorgio Spaziani Testa, president of Confedilizia. "I see a bit of a risk of demonising transient rents," he continues, "which instead are the answer to temporary housing needs, well governed by local agreements, and in centres of over 10,000 inhabitants they have a reduced rent.

Agreed '3+2' rents are concentrated in municipalities with a high housing tension, driven by concessions. Transitional contracts are more widespread in smaller towns, perhaps also because the rent is free there.

In the eight largest cities, new '3+2' contracts in 2025 accounted for about 30%, fewer than free '4+4' contracts. The ratio is reversed in the other municipalities with a high housing tension (a list that includes provincial capitals and many medium-sized towns): here, although the total share of long contracts is similar to that of the big cities, concordats outnumber '4+4'. This may depend on a less dynamic market situation, which makes fixed rents more competitive with free ones. Certainly in the large centres, recourse to the '3+2' formula varies greatly. In Rome and Genoa it exceeds 50% of all contracts registered in 2025. In Florence it does not reach 10% and in Milan it is close to 14% after years of almost absence.

"The distinction between municipalities with high housing tension or not is anachronistic. It perhaps made sense some twenty years ago, when there was a different social composition, before the economic crises and the Covid cyclone," says Stefano Chiappelli, secretary general of Sunia, the tenants' union. He adds: "The chance of the 10% coupon should therefore be extended to everyone: a small or medium-sized municipality, in fact, could find itself in a more uncomfortable condition than a larger centre, because it has few public housing properties or low family income levels".

The question remains how much agreed rents reduce the rent compared to market levels. Starting from the gross rent, Il Sole 24 Ore of Monday calculated that in several cities the average amount for the landlord - net of coupon and Imu - is higher for agreed rents than for free rents registered in 2025: this is evident in Naples and Genoa, but also in Palermo, Rome and Milan. Of course, this does not mean that tenants are penalised or that agreed rents are 'too high', because the two averages refer to houses with different characteristics and locations. What can be noted is that the average agreed rent of the new 2025 contracts is in the order of €800 per month in large cities: from a minimum of €472 in Turin to a maximum of €980 in Rome and €1,056 in Milan.

'Agreements do not replace social housing, but meet intermediate needs,' Spaziani Testa comments. 'This is also why we have asked for the funds for tenants to be restored, both the one for incolpevole delinquency, which the housing plan would direct where it is of little use, and the classic fund of Law 431/1998. These are measures that, like the decree on evictions, serve to have more rents'.