Florence is one of the cities where real estate transactions have not grown this year / Pixabay
Florence is one of the cities where real estate transactions have not grown this year / Pixabay

The growth of the residential sector in Italy in the first quarter of the year is not uniformly reflected in the main Italian cities. In fact, according to figures in the OMI quarterly report, the increase in transactions in the eight main Italian city centres was reduced to +0.7% in the first quarter of 2018, compared to +3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

There are unequal patterns in different cities. The significant growth of Naples (+11.8%), which recorded its fifteenth consecutive increase in the number of real estate transactions, was accompanied by much smaller increases in Turin (+3.9%), Milan (+0.9%) and Palermo (+1.7%).  On the other hand, we find negative rates in Genoa (-3.0%), Florence (-1.1%), Rome (-1.9%) and Bologna (-2.7%).

If we analyse the trend in sales in relation to the average surface area of homes, we see that growth is only recorded for properties up to 50 m2 (540 sq ft), which was +8.2%, and for those between 85 m2 and 115 m2 (900 – 1200 sq ft). On the other hand, for houses and flats with a surface area of 50 m2 to 85 m2 (540 – 900 sq ft), there was a decrease of 1.2% in the rate of transactions, just as in the case of dwellings between 115 m2 and 145 m2 (1200 – 1500 sq ft).