According to some sources, house prices are showing slight nominal growth, while rents are accelerating, especially in large urban areas, widening the gap between supply and demand in the rental segment.
On the credit front, a structural contraction in access to mortgages remains, due to still high rates and stringent prudential criteria, with direct effects on sales and the average age of buyers. At the same time, the weight of alternative forms of investment and purchasing is growing, while Italy remains characterized by a low presence of institutional investors compared to the main European partners.
Looking ahead, the sector appears to be oriented towards greater selectivity: quality, energy efficient and well-located properties hold on, while the rest of the market struggles to absorb the increase in costs and weak demand. It is within this framework that the latest Istat data are inserted, crucial for assessing whether the economic signals are translating into a structural change.
These are preliminary data released last December 18th which describe the trend in the third quarter of 2025, therefore as of September 30th. The delay with which they come out should not, however, be frightening, because it is in line with the authoritativeness of the source which takes some time to process all the information. Housing prices in the third quarter rose by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter and by 3.8% over the same period in 2024. The data was driven not only by new homes (+1.4% on a year before, but +2.5% on the quarter), but also by existing ones (+4.2%, although only +0.3% on the quarter), in a context of growth in sales volumes (+8.5% on the year). In itself, this data on existing homes is also interesting, because their values have historically grown very little: since 2015 they have put up only 13.4%, compared to 34.5%, a sign that homes have not been a great deal (world shares in 5 years, therefore in half the time, as of 31 December had put up 71% in euros and dividends included.
Our advice on real estate investments remains marked by prudence: beyond the residential house which follows its own dynamics, even of a non-financial nature, it is not certain that these are interesting investments. The purchase price and the perspective of the area in which you bought the house matter a lot. In the past we have examined various situations, from buying a house in the mountains, to buying a house by the sea, to what to do to evaluate a garage, to the impact of the growing number of singles on the real estate sector, to the choice between allocating a house for short-term or long-term rentals.
