Real estate: Italian market +1.4% in 2022, turnover €36.5 billion

According to the ninth 'European and Italian Real Estate Services Chain Report' by Scenari Immobiliari, the real estate services sector has become an important component of European GDP with an average of 13.6 percent, while construction accounts for 5.7 percent, excluding public projects.

Italy has outperformed the continent's average with better performance in the construction and real estate sectors in 2022, while the outlook for the European real estate market remains uncertain.

While the share of construction leading EU countries remained stable (5.7 percent) and the share of services fell slightly (from 12.3 percent to 11.5 percent), in Italy both sectors''demonstrated growth. The share of construction increased from 4.9 to 5.2 percent and the share of services increased from 13.7 to 13.9 percent. These data were presented at the FUTU Seminar. RE inMilan during the presentation of the "Report on the real estate services chain in Europe and Italy", developed by Scenari Immobiliari together with the leading Italian service providers (ARTELIA GROUP, COLLIERS ITALIA, RINA Prime Value Services, RINA Prime Property, SIDIEF, CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD, GENERALI REAL ESTATE, YARD REAAS, ABACO TEAM, AGIRE | GRUPPO IPI, RECCHI ENGINEERING, PRELIOS INTEGRA, THEOP, HILL INTERNATIONAL, REVALO).

Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari, said that the real estate services sector in Europe has become an important component of European GDP, with the construction sector losing ground.

He believes there is still huge potential for growth in the industry,''especially in the residential segment, and new innovative approaches and culture are required.

In 2022, real estate market turnover in the five main European countries is estimated at almost 355 billion euros, an increase of 2.7 percent compared to 2021. Germany continues to be the most successful market with a turnover of almost €130 billion and steady growth (3.4 percent compared to 2021).

France showed stabilization with a turnover of 76.6 billion euros in 2022 (0.8 percent growth). Italy also stabilized its turnover level compared to 2021, with 1.4 percent growth and a volume of €36.5 billion. For the second consecutive year, the United Kingdom posted a 3 percent increase in turnover (€82 billion vs.

In terms of employment, the construction industry employed more workers than the service sector, with around 13.7 million workers in Europe, representing around 5.8 percent of the total labor force.

This industry operates 3.75 million companies with an average number of employees slightly above 3.5 per company. Germany remains Europe's largest market in terms of employment with 2.63 million workers in more than 390,000 businesses and an average of around 6.7 employees per business, ahead of the UK at nearly 570,000 workers, accounting for more than a quarter of the employed in''UK.

In France, the number of employees in the construction industry reaches 1.84 million in 2022, a constant growth rate (14.5 percent compared to 2015) and showing high dynamism, second only to Spain (22.4 percent growth).

In Spain, the number of businesses increased by 4.5 percent between 2015 and 2022, from 380,000 to more than 395,000, while the number of employees increased by 22.4 percent, from 1.07 million to 1.3 million, leading to an increase in the average number of employees from 2.8 in 2015 to 3.3 in 2022 (17 percent growth).

In Italy, the number of employees in the construction industry is also on the rise, totaling more than 1.5 million, up 8.3 percent from 2015. The number of businesses stands at just over 545,000,''which is a 9.4 percent increase from the previous year and a 1.4 percent increase from 2015. The average number of employees per company stabilizes at 2.8 in 2022, which remains roughly the same over the analysis period from 2015 to 2022.

With regard to the real estate services sector, its share of the total labor force across countries remains low at 1.1 percent on average across Europe, corresponding to 2.61 million employees.

To this number should be added about one million more "indirect" workers. In Italy, the number of direct workers exceeds 330,000 (8.6 percent more than in 2020), to which is added a little over 140,000 "indirect" workers. As a percentage of the total labor force (1.3''percent) is still in line with the European average, while the average size of enterprises remains very low at 1.3 employees per enterprise.

The UK and Germany represent the main exceptions among the analyzed countries in terms of number of employees and structure of enterprises, with an average size of 5.3 and 3.2 direct employees per enterprise, respectively, and a number of employees exceeding 750,000 and 500,000.

Francesca Zirnstein, CEO of Scenari Immobiliari, emphasized that various changes, such as the application of artificial intelligence and virtual and augmented reality, as well as services for people, whether tenants or residents, and the careful management of social aspects, will ''define the evolution of real estate activities by 2030.

To successfully navigate these changes, real estate companies must make significant investments in technology and information systems, develop their skills and continually innovate.

She emphasized the importance of the sector in the formation of national wealth, the growth in the types of services provided by their expansion and the improvement of the managerial capacity of company managers and the qualifications of employees.

She also noted that the service chain faces many challenges from today to 2030 with the continuous development of the industry, such as quantifying the impact of different types of services on the market value of real estate and''The challenges of attracting the young talent needed to develop and grow the industry.

After welcoming remarks by Mario Breglia (Scenari Immobiliari), the report was presented by Francesca Zirnstein and Federico Rivolta (Scenari Immobiliari) and then commented by the CEOs of the companies involved in the work group: Paolo Alberti (ARTELIA GROUP), Simone Contasta (COLLIERS ITALIA), Lorenzo Dei Poli (RECCHI ENGINEERING), Manuela Di Marino (RINA Prime Value Services), Andrea Di Nicola (RINA Prime Property), Carola Giuseppetti (SIDIEF), Giovanni Grifa (CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD), Paolo Paganuzzi (GENERALI REAL ESTATE), Laura Piantanida (YARD REAAS), Ermanno Piovani (ABACO TEAM), Dario Pistone (AGIRE | GRUPPO IPI), Corrado Senzale (PRELIOS INTEGRA), Giovanni Smaldone (THEOP), Andrea Tota (HILL INTERNATIONAL), David Vici (REVALO).