Sales, rentals, and new constructions: how the real estate market is evolving

Signs of recovery in 2025 thanks to growth in sales, the strength of the luxury sector, and increased demand for new, energy-efficient homes. We discussed this with Paolo Giabardo, General Manager of Immobiliare.it.

It's mid-2025: from your privileged vantage point, how are supply and demand for real estate sales looking compared to the first six months of last year on a national scale?

"At the beginning of this year, the Italian real estate market showed signs of recovery in the sales sector, especially in terms of demand, thanks mainly to the gradual lowering of interest rates promoted by the ECB, while an initial slowdown was noted in the rental sector.

Between January and March 2025, demand for homes for sale increased by approximately 18%, while supply remained virtually stable during the period. As for rental properties, however, the available stock increased by 18% over the year.

According to the Revenue Agency's Real Estate Market Observatory (OMI), there were approximately 719,500 sales in 2024, 1% higher than in 2023, when there were approximately 10,000 fewer. The figures for the fourth quarter of last year are particularly encouraging, with over 217,000 sales: the highest figure in the last six years."

Going into more detail: which cities or capitals have the most vibrant markets?

"As far as the sales market is concerned, compared to the first quarter of 2024, demand has grown across the board, but the main driver is the North West, up 20.4%.

Looking at individual cities, while Bari remains the capital where sales prices have grown the most in the last 12 months (+8.4%), it is Aosta where demand from potential buyers has increased most significantly, +50.1%. Milan continues to be one of the most vibrant markets, with an increase of 1.7% compared to the beginning of 2024.

As for rents, Catanzaro takes the top spot in terms of annual growth, +27.4%, while Potenza is the city where demand for rental homes has increased the most in the same period, by almost 70%. Again, Milan is the most expensive city in the country."

As for the luxury sector, what are the main trends that are transforming the market?

"According to data from our latest Luxury Residential Market Observatory in Italy, the luxury sector has been experiencing a period of significant growth in recent years, which has continued into 2024. After the physiological decline in the percentage of properties on offer during the pandemic, the market share of luxury homes began to increase again in the second half of 2021, reaching the current 2.6% of the total residential supply.

In terms of demand pressure, understood as the average number of contacts per listing, 2024 saw growth in the luxury sector: +4% compared to last year and +6% compared to 2019. Prices for villas and apartments, on the other hand, have remained relatively stable in recent years.

Two further indicators that highlight the dynamism of this real estate sector are time to sell - i.e., the average time taken for an advertisement to be removed from the market - and time on market - understood as the average age of advertisements still present on the portal at a given moment. The time to sell for luxury properties fell by 2.6 months between the beginning of 2019 and the end of 2024, from 8.7 to 6.1 months. Time on market fell from 12.4 months in 2019 to 9.6 months at the end of last year."

Finally, an increasingly strategic segment of Italian real estate is new construction, which enjoys greater energy efficiency and generally meets all the sustainability criteria required today. What is the trend between demand and availability for such properties?

"The Italian real estate stock is rather outdated, with three out of four properties built before the 1980s and a scarcity of new construction. This is also reflected in the energy classification of the homes on offer in our country: in 2025, only 6% of properties will be in class A or above, and just 2% in class B. On the other hand, 78% of the available stock belongs to classes E, F, and G, the most energy-intensive on the scale. Demand, on the other hand, is moving in the opposite direction: Italians want to live in homes that do not need to be renovated and that comply with the parameters set by the European Green Homes Directive.

This directive has defined a trajectory for reducing consumption in the coming years: in Italy, by 2030, the kWh consumption of homes will have to be reduced by 16% and by 2035 up to 20-22%. In order to meet these targets, we will inevitably see a gradual renewal of real estate assets and an increasingly substantial percentage of energy-efficient properties on offer."