'Luxury real estate, Italy increasingly sought after by overseas buyers'

Gate-away.com Luxury Report - Enquiries 1st semester 2024

Italy continues to draw international buyers, even high-end ones, attracted by the peculiarities of Italy's real estate heritage, but also by the recent tax relief programmes that have been introduced by the Government. Just think about the Golden Visa and the Flat Tax through which, with an investment of a certain amount, one has the possibility of accessing the residency application route.

'The Flat Tax programme in particular was launched by the Italian government in 2017 and has since drawn thousands of wealthy individuals who have relocated to Italy paying an annual fee of €100,000 to be exempt from paying tax on gifts, inheritance, and income earned outside the country for up to 15 years,' Simone Rossi, co-founder of Gate-away.com, says. 'In case you want to set up residency also for your family members, you will pay an additional €25,000 per person.'

'With the annual fee now increasing from €100,000 to €200,000, the appeal for high and ultra-high-net-worth individuals considering a tax residency in Italy may decrease. However, I believe it will still attract many billionaires,' Simone Rossi adds. 'This change could particularly influence numerous affluent individuals from the UK, who might now contemplate relocating to Italy due to recent significant alterations in their local tax landscape, especially concerning the 'non-dom' status.'

But think also of the Nomad Visa that was introduced this year, which can be applied for by workers who have a contract with a foreign company and are self-employed, with sufficient income to live in Italy. 'This option responds to the growing trend born with the spread of remote working and aims to attract digital workers to contribute to the local economy,' says Simone Rossi, Gate-away.com co-founder.

These initiatives are all aimed at bringing in foreign residents and could continue to support the real estate market, particularly in the luxury and high-end segments.

Most interested nationalities and popular areas in the luxury segment

The latest snapshot taken by Gate-away.com – the Italian property portal dedicated to international buyers interested in purchasing a home in Italy –has recorded the requests received from abroad in the first six months of 2024 for properties for sale in the country from € 500,000 upwards. It shows that the most interested country in Italy's luxury real estate is the USA with almost 30% of the total number of requests. This is followed by Germany (10.6%) and those who sent an application while already in Italy (8.7%). In fourth and fifth place in the ranking are respectively the UK with 5.6% and Switzerland with 4.5% of the requests.

'A very significant figure is represented by the third position. This could reveal a tendency of a large group of buyers to close the purchase earlier and more easily as they can organise visits to the properties they are interested in within a few days during their stay, without having to wait to organise a trip to come to Italy, since they are already here,' Simone Rossi says. 'We also recorded a significant increase in enquiries from countries such as Australia (+20% compared to the same period last year) and Sweden (+19.2%).'

The Italian regions that generated the highest number of visits were Tuscany with 22% of requests out of the total; Lombardy (16%), which is driven by Lake Como, the most popular area, and Liguria (13%), which together with Piedmont (7.30%) in fourth position are those that grew the most with +31% and +35% respectively if compared to the same period in 2023. In fifth place is Puglia with 7% of the enquiries.

'Among the municipalities, the top 6 of the ranking is dominated by large and medium-sized cities. In fact, we have Lucca and Rome in first and second position, Como and Florence in fifth and sixth position,' Rossi adds. 'Among these, two smaller locations stand out respectively in third and fourth position which are Ostuni in Puglia and Cortona in Puglia. These two destinations have been exerting a great attraction abroad for years.'

Most sought-after luxury properties

According to the Gate-away.com report, detached solutions are definitely the most desired in the luxury market with 84% of requests compared to the percentage for flats. Among these, Italian villas and farmhouses take the lead.

Almost all enquiries are for properties of more than 120 m2 (about 92%), which should preferably be completely renovated or already habitable (70%) and have at least 3 bedrooms, no less. The presence of a garden is a plus in 78% of cases.

The average asking price for luxury properties is around € 1,700,000.

About Gate-away.com

Gate-away.com is the leading Italian property portal solely devoted to overseas buyers looking for their dream home in the boot-shaped country. It's based in Italy, born in 2008 and promptly became the reference point for people around the world searching for a second home in the bel paese. On the portal are listed about 40,000 properties that are currently for sale by private sellers and Italian estate agencies which are familiar with every need of non-Italian home-hunters.

DATA FOR 2023*:

• 10 language versions of the portal
• enquiries from 162 countries worldwide
• 1,850,000 international users have searched for homes in Italy through Gate-away.com 
• 38,000,000 page views
• 70,000 international buyers subscribed to gate-away.com multilingual newsletter
• +37,000 followers on Facebook

* data updated to January 2024