Where is the most expensive place to buy house in Italy? What about the most sought after? We have all the details.
A luxury villa for sale in Forte dei Marmi
A luxury villa for sale in Forte dei Marmi idealista

Thanks to a report by idealista/data on the listings published on Italy's leading real estate portal, idealista, it has been possible to rank the Italian towns that generated the most leads (email contacts and shares) per listing and those where the average final sale price is highest. Using this information, let's find out the most expensive and sought-after locations to buy a house in Italy in 2023.

The most expensive locations to buy a home in Italy

What is the most expensive area to live in Italy? As was also the case in the previous quarter, the top step of the podium of the most expensive places to buy property in Italy is still occupied by Forte dei Marmi, where to buy a residential property it takes an average of 1.5 million euros.

The composition of the rest of the podium does not change either, compared to last year. Another resort in Versilia can be found in second place, Pietrasanta with an average asking price of 585,741 euros and Alassio in Liguria (471,682 euros). The common thread linking the first three positions is the strong appeal and prestige at tourist level.

Just off the podium, we find one of the main Italian markets. In fourth position is Milan. In the Lombard capital, the average final price of houses is an impressive 467,415 euros, followed by Venice (441,307 euros). The top 10 is completed by Riccione (436,908 euros), Desenzano del Garda (432,663 euros), Camaiore (420,974 euros), Lerici (387,919 euros) and Florence (382,128 euros).

To find Rome we have to move down the ranking to 25th place, with an average expenditure of 299,304 euros when buying property in the city. The most expensive municipality in southern Italy is Salerno, where an average of 272,441 euros is spent to buy a house.

The municipalities surveyed by the report are those with an average asking price of more than 875 euros/m2 and for which there is a stock of property for sale listings of more than 975 units on idealista (and more than 50 for rent).

The most sought after locations to buy property in Italy

Bologna is Italy's most sought-after city for buyers
Bologna is Italy's most sought-after city for buyers Unsplash

In addition, idealista/data has implemented an indicator that summarises the pressure of demand on supply in each area of Italy for the segment of homes for sale. The indicator is based on the number of leads (email contacts and shares) received per listing.

According to the idealista/data report, the cities with the highest number of searches for homes for sale are Bologna and Cagliari (both with an index of 3.3 contacts per listing published). This is followed by Trieste (2.9) and Milan and Naples (both 2.7). Rome (2.4) comes in behind Verona (2.5).