Italy back on property seekers’ radar

Italy has jumped five places to become the third most sought-after property destination for overseas property hunters, new data shows.

The Move Channel’s latest Top of the Props Index shows that Italy sits only below Spain and the United States in terms of where people seeking a second home abroad search for, the website says,

In total, Italy accounted for 2.66 per cent of all property enquiries made on the portal during June – up from 1.66 per cent a month before.

“Italy’s housing market has been one of the sore spots of Europe, with property prices declining steadily since the financial crisis,” explained TheMoveChannel.com Director Dan Johnson. “Despite the country’s well-publicised economic difficulties, though, property sales have begun to rise in recent years, as investors increasingly look to take advantage of the affordable prices. British buyers looking to offset costs of a weaker pound and US buyers looking to capitalise on the strength of the dollar are both likely to be contributing to the rising sales.

He continued: “With Eurostat reporting house prices rising year-on-year for the first time in recent memory (up 0.1 per cent in Q4 2016), though, 2017 could be the year when Italian real estate bottoms out and starts a long road to real recovery.”

The USA remains the portal’s most enquired about country. The US’s share of enquiries increased slightly from 8.44 per cent in May to 9.65 per cent in June. Meanwhile, Spain’s share of activity more than doubled month-on-month, accounting for 7.34 per cent of enquiries.

Elsewhere, May’s third-placed country, Cyprus, fell four places, while France slipped one place to fifth behind Portugal. Cape Verde and Greece both re-entered the top ten positions.

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Most enquired about property destinations in June

  1. USA
  2. Spain
  3. Italy
  4. Portugal
  5. France
  6. Canada
  7. Cyprus
  8. Cape Verde
  9. Bulgaria
  10. Greece

Source: The Move Channel

Article published 25th July 2017