First half of 2026: residential sales remain steady and mortgages support the market

Ilario Antonio Toscano

4 minutes

In the first six months of this year, residential sales completed by our network remained close to the levels recorded in the same period of 2025, with a slight decline of 2%.

The figure should be interpreted by looking at the overall performance of the two quarters: after a contraction in volumes during the first three months of the year, in the second quarter we recorded a significant recovery, returning to growth compared with the same period of 2025.

National data from the OMI of the Italian Revenue Agency also point to an overall stable picture. Considering the first six months of the year, residential sales increased by approximately 2% compared with the same period of 2025.

A significant result in the current international economic environment, characterized by pressure on energy prices, rising inflation and the consequent increase in interest rates by the ECB. These factors are closely interconnected and affect people’s decisions, especially when the purchase of a property requires access to credit.

The data for the first half of the year also show positive signs on this front. According to the OMI, compared with the same period of 2025, both the number of purchases financed through a mortgage and the total amount financed increased, despite higher average interest rates than a year earlier.

In addition, almost half of all residential sales were supported by a mortgage, in line with the findings of Toscano Mutui, our credit brokerage company.

Precisely because of the role that credit plays in real estate transactions, interest rate trends and access to financing are factors that must be monitored carefully: any changes may affect purchasing power and, consequently, real estate market volumes.

For this reason, we at Gruppo Toscano provide integrated real estate and credit expertise: through our network of real estate agents and credit brokers, we build a personalized path for each client, analyzing market conditions and identifying sustainable solutions based on their financial means, even in a constantly evolving economic environment.

Author

Ilario Antonio Toscano

At just the age of 25 years, in 1982, he founded the company Toscano Immobiliare. At the end of the 1980s, the company began to expand in the city of Rome. It was during these years that the brand's distinctive style was born. By the end of 1991, an economic crisis began that would last until 1997, particularly affecting the real estate world. Despite the crisis, Toscano showed resilience and countered the trend compared to its competitors, undergoing its first major national expansion during those years, opening new agencies in major Italian cities while strengthening structurally and organizationally. In 1997, the Toscano Franchise was launched, which led to exponential growth for the Group. He is the Founder and honorary President of A.N.A.M.A., the national association representing business brokers, part of Confesercenti. In 2013, he published his first book, edited by Franco Angeli: "Per fare impresa, Il Caso Toscano: una storia italiana" (Doing Business, The Toscano Case: An Italian Story). The book covers the fundamentals of management for a service company. Today, he is the President and Founder of Gruppo Toscano SpA.

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