{"id":10902,"date":"2025-11-21T11:55:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T10:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?p=10902"},"modified":"2025-11-21T11:55:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T10:55:38","slug":"in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are not like the British: in Italy, the housing crisis does not affect the entire country, but only a few very specific areas. Data from contracts registered with the land registry contradict the perception of a nationwide housing emergency\u2014an impression that appears far more widespread in the media than in the concerns of Italians themselves, at least according to surveys. In fact, increases in home prices that exceed inflation affect only a small number of municipalities. Yet there is a real problem: housing prices and rents are rising precisely in the places that offer the most job and educational opportunities. These are the areas in the North and North-East to which many people are moving\u2014people who would often prefer to rent a home rather than buy one. Government actions in this field must take into account the geography of real-estate price increases. Otherwise, there is a risk of worsening rather than improving the situation.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a widespread idea in Italy that the housing market has become completely inaccessible for citizens. In different ways, this perception is amplified both by investigative reporting on Milan\u2019s urban planning and by the Prime Minister\u2019s promise\u2014made at the Rimini Meeting at the end of the summer\u2014of a renewed housing plan (see also Raffaele Lungarella\u2019s article in this issue, ed.). Yet the attention that politicians and newspapers devote to the housing question does not seem to fully align with the concerns Italians express in surveys. According to the Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025, Italians expect smaller increases in home prices and rents than citizens in other European countries, and even those who rent do not feel that their home is an unbearable financial burden.<\/p>\n

Where Prices Are Rising<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That Italians in general are not overly worried about rising housing prices is not surprising. Indeed, given the sharp decline in births, greater housing availability is expected in the future. And this can easily be verified by examining the data registered at the land registry, where all contracts for property transactions and rentals longer than thirty days are filed and then aggregated by the Real Estate Market Observatory, a research unit within the Italian Revenue Agency. According to these data, nominal home prices and rents for properties of similar quality rose by only 2% between 2019 and 2023\u2014less than inflation during the same period. Looking back further, since 2010 nominal prices and rents have actually fallen.<\/p>\n

So how do we reconcile the perception of a housing crisis shaking Italian cities with the national data?<\/p>\n

By nature, the housing market is extremely local. Real estate\u2014its very name says so\u2014cannot be imported or exported; therefore, prices do not tend toward equilibrium across locations. To understand how home values evolve, geography becomes essential. If we look at regional data, we find that between 2019 and 2023 home prices rose only in three regions in the North and North-East: Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Friuli Venezia Giulia\u2014by 6%, 7%, and 5%, respectively.<\/p>\n

If we shift perspective and focus on \u201clocal labor systems\u201d\u2014that is, geographic areas where people tend to live and work\u2014prices rose in fewer than one-third of them, mostly concentrated, as expected, in the same three northern regions. In short, alarmism about a nationwide housing emergency finds little support in the data.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, falling home prices are not necessarily a good thing. Lower home values mean fewer savings stored in real estate for homeowners\u2014fewer resources to draw on in times of need by selling or mortgaging their property. This concerns especially older people, who may need funds and emergency liquidity to cope with illness or unforeseen events.<\/p>\n

A Crisis Affecting Only a Few Areas<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If alarmist tones do not describe Italy as a whole, it is still worth considering how accessible specific areas are in terms of their housing markets. And to do so, it is better to look at rents rather than homeownership. As long as the rental market remains affordable, one does not need to own a home to live in a given area.<\/p>\n

Nationally, rent growth mirrors that of house prices, but it is far less concentrated. Between 2019 and 2023, rents registered in the land registry increased in almost all regions. Only five regions\u2014mostly in the South\u2014saw no increases: Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Abruzzo, and Tuscany. Among local labor systems, rents grew in just under half of them, affecting more than half the Italian population.<\/p>\n

Land registry data therefore provide a varied picture of the Italian real estate market. On the one hand, both home prices and rents have risen nationally, though less than the consumer price index. On the other, this growth is concentrated in a limited number of municipalities. This suggests that\u2014unlike in the United Kingdom, where increases are widespread\u2014the housing crisis portrayed by media and politicians is not a national issue but a local one. And the few municipalities where prices and rents have risen by more than 5% (that is, more than consumer price inflation) are often in the same three northern regions: Lombardy, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Friuli Venezia Giulia.<\/p>\n

Internal Population Movements<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Why do we see such geographically different trends in the housing market? The municipalities in which home prices and rents rose the most are often those where the population grew the most as well. Despite the nationwide demographic decline, internal migration\u2014especially from the South to the North\u2014increases housing demand in certain areas, which are not always able to quickly absorb the new arrivals. Milan is perhaps the most striking example of this phenomenon. And this explains the geographic differences in price increases. Moreover, if the newcomers are primarily those who tend to rent rather than buy\u2014such as university students and young families\u2014the result is that rents rise more quickly than home prices.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, if the most attractive centers in the North\u2014the places people want to move to\u2014experience rising housing costs, it is inevitable that the country as a whole perceives housing to be getting more expensive. Prices in small municipalities, where the resident population is declining, are not under scrutiny. Thus, the story can be summarized in a few words: the most attractive local labor markets cannot increase housing supply quickly enough to accommodate internal migration, and the result is a local (not national) rise in prices.<\/p>\n

What the Government Should Do\u2014And Should Not Do<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What actions should policymakers take? First and foremost, they should take into account the geography of price increases. The government has two possible approaches to reduce both purchase prices and rents.<\/p>\n

On one hand, it can increase the availability of housing in the locations where workers want to move\u2014mainly the North and North-East. Policy tools are many: simplifying regulations, supporting builders and landlords, and strengthening public transport links between municipalities to facilitate commuting.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, it could try to increase the attractiveness of those areas where prices are already falling, thus reducing demand in locations whose housing markets cannot easily absorb new residents.<\/p>\n

Above all, the government must avoid adopting measures that increase housing demand without considering geography. For example, expanding the First Home Mortgage Guarantee Fund risks worsening the situation by boosting housing demand precisely in already attractive labor markets. Equally negative would be measures that reduce local housing supply, such as a rent freeze.<\/p>\n

Every sound legislative intervention must come to terms with the complexity of reality. The Meloni government wants to combat the perceived housing crisis, but lowering home prices requires measures tailored to actual conditions. If government policies fail to recognize that rising housing prices are not evenly distributed across the country but concentrated in specific areas, well-intentioned measures may end up worsening access to housing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alberto Nasi is a PhD candidate at Bocconi University. His research focuses on the relationship between housing prices, rents, and the geographical dimension of the housing market.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are not like the British: in Italy, the housing crisis does not affect the entire country, but only a few very specific areas. Data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15868,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[392],"class_list":["post-10902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We are not like the British: in Italy, the housing crisis does not affect the entire country, but only a few very specific areas. Data […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rivista Eco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alberto Nasi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alberto Nasi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alberto Nasi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7\"},\"headline\":\"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1316,\"articleSection\":[\"Non categorizzato\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/\",\"name\":\"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/21\\\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rivista Eco\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7\",\"name\":\"Alberto Nasi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g1664fa0e76246f9f59442b06d8b7c46d\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alberto Nasi\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rivistaeco.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/alnasi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco","og_description":"We are not like the British: in Italy, the housing crisis does not affect the entire country, but only a few very specific areas. Data […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/","og_site_name":"Rivista Eco","article_published_time":"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00","author":"Alberto Nasi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alberto Nasi","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/"},"author":{"name":"Alberto Nasi","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7"},"headline":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem","datePublished":"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/"},"wordCount":1316,"articleSection":["Non categorizzato"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/","name":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem - Rivista Eco","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-21T10:55:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2025\/11\/21\/in-italy-housing-is-a-local-problem\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Italy, Housing Is a Local Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/","name":"Rivista Eco","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a438164ce34eefbd63c6f9c38b97a7a7","name":"Alberto Nasi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g1664fa0e76246f9f59442b06d8b7c46d","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f772f4153a62e165cf129d7ff1f51337ace82a07aa1dfc96bfe2d2da8f8caec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alberto Nasi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/author\/alnasi\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15868"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10905,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10902\/revisions\/10905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10902"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}