Demand for houses by the sea in Italy is recovering partly thanks to an increase in foreign buyers, according to real estate agency Tecnocasa. The percentage of non-Italians among purchasers of holiday homes in the country has gone from 7.5% of the total in 2015 to 12.1% in 2016.
Foreigners are buying particularly in the southern region of Campania (around Ischia, Sorrento, and in a slightly smaller measure, Amalfi and Positano), in Sicily (in the area of Castellammare del Golfo and Scopello) and in Liguria (there is a notable return of French people in the zone of Imperia and around Savona, maybe looking for greater tranquillity after the tragic events of Nice a year ago) where interventions to build cycle routes are also making the area more attractive.
Foreigners are particularly drawn to coastal villages and traditional houses, or independent options positioned in areas that are more set back but have a panoramic view of the sea. They almost always have a significant budget, sometimes up to €1 million.
The time periods for sales of this type of property are shorter in luxury resorts, another analysis by research institute Scenari Immobiliari for Il Sole 24 Ore-ItalyEurope24 showed. These locations include Porto Cervo in Sardinia (4 months), Capri off the coast of Naples and Porto Rotondo in Sardinia (4-1/2 months), Portofino near Genoa (5 months) and Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany (5-1/2 months). These are all places where it is rare to find houses for sale under 5,000 euros per square meter.
Time lengths widen to over 10 months, but remain contained compared to the past, for places including Gallipoli and Vieste in Puglia, and Chiavari in Genoa province.
“Purchases abroad in traditional destinations are declining and the flow of foreigners (in Italy) is increasing,” said Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari.
Among the 15 places which are registering the best performance due to the liveliness of sales, two are in Sardinia and two are in Campania. On Sardinia’s Emerald Coast, Porto Cervo and Porto Rotondo saw prices rising between June 2016 and June 2017 by 1.2% and 2.5% respectively. The two Campania locations are Capri and Amalfi. Here the range is also from luxury villas to apartments. You can find and rent out one and two room apartments which have variable prices between €4,000 and €6,000 per square meter and are in hot demand for rentals, thanks above all to foreign tourism.
