Italian real estate market to shrink by 10% in 2023 - News - Ansa.it.

The Italian real estate market expects a decline in 2023. The residential real estate sector ended the year with the sale of almost 710 thousand homes, which in total represents a decline of almost 10% compared to 2022. This was revealed in the real estate market surveillance report of the Revenue Agency, which notes that the Italian real estate market showed a negative rate in all quarters of 2023, but in the fourth quarter with the sale of a little over 200 thousand homes, the decline stopped at 3.3% (compared to a dramatic decline of more than 10% in the third quarter).

High interest rates are curbing demand for mortgages to the extent that the proportion of homes purchased using credit fell well below 40% (37%) in the fourth quarter of last year, for the first time since 2021. This emerged from the Revenue Agency's property market watchdog report.

Between October and December, according to the document, "the proportion of home purchases by individuals financed by a mortgage on the property being purchased fell significantly, falling below 40% for the first time since 2021. The average interest rate set at the signing of a mortgage contract is 4.51% and rose again after a weak decline recorded in the previous quarter. Loan arrears relating to real estate contracts by individuals amount to around €9.3 billion, €2.3 billion lower than in the same quarter of 2022."