Real estate: The market is flying high (+3.5%), demand for green homes is increasing

The house remains a refuge asset par excellence for Italian families and real estate investment is the safest option to keep citizens' savings safe. The data from the Fiaip National Real Estate Observatory report show for 2022 the highest level of home sales in over twenty years (+3.5% compared to 2021, equal to 775 thousand total transactions). Market values were substantially stationary, except for increases in large urban centers (+5/10%), generated by a high demand and an increasingly reduced supply, both in sales and rentals. For non-residential use, on the other hand, a trend was recorded in sales (shops +0.5% offices -0.1% warehouses -0.3%) and in prices (shops +0.2%, offices +0 .1% and sheds -0.8%) similar to 2021.

The report- together with a Focus on energy efficiency which is the result of a ten-year collaboration with the Fiaip and I-Com- was presented in Rome at the Temple of Hadrian by Francesco La Commare, President of the Center Studi Fiaip, together with Ilaria Bertini, Director of the ENEA Department of Energy Efficiency, and Franco D'Amore, Vice President of I-Com, with a closing statement by the National President of the Fiaip Gian Battista Baccarini, followed by a round table "Green houses and energy redevelopment –New scenarios for the challenge of the energy transition of real estate assets" attended by the National President of the Fiaip Gian Battista Baccarini, the President of I-Com Stefano da Empoli, the Director of the ENEA Energy Efficiency Department Ilaria Bertini, the Deputy General Manager of the ABI Gianfranco Torriero and the Honorary President of Auxilia Finance Spa Paolo Righi.

The event was also attended by the Deputy Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Vania Gava and the President of the OPMI (Parliamentary Observatory of the real estate market) Catia Polidori and the Deputy Head of Assembly of the Pd  Piero De Luca .

The Focus on energy efficiency showed that 70% of new buildings fall in the first two energy classes (A and B), and +10% renovated buildings in the best energy classes compared to 2021. Furthermore, 56% of the sample of about 600 real estate agents interviewed believe that buyers are aware of the importance of energy efficiency, while 58% believe that the EPA (Energy Performance Certificate) helps guide users choose energy efficient buildings. Finally, for 57% of the interviewees, the Superbonus 110% has definitely had a positive impact on the virtuous dynamism of the real estate market.

"The real estate market continued to grow significantly in 2022 with rising market values in large urban centres", pointed out the President of the Fiaip Study Center Francesco La Commare. "There is a worrying scarcity of houses both for sale and for rent, especially in university towns and cities with a strong tourist vocation, which could lead to a further rise in prices, but the prospects for 2023 remain positive mainly thanks to a newfound advantage of the banks to grant mortgages, together with the huge liquidity accumulated by Italian families which will stimulate real estate investment not just in first homes but also in rental profitability".

"Achieving the right energy transition within the timeframes set by European and national energy-climate policies requires a radical and rapid change of pace in the way we build, renovate and live in our dwelling spaces", said I-Com Vice President Franco D'Amore . “It will require a new perspective in which the energy efficiency of buildings must be seen as an investment to increase property values and maintain, through the reduction of energy costs, purchasing power. This process needs to be followed and supported to avoid creating distortions and widening the social gap among citizens. The amount of resources required will need financial instruments that allow for the activation of a virtuous cycle of investments to be repaid over time with the savings obtained, thus overcoming the incentive logic which, in the long run, is no longer sustainable".

"The central role of the civil sector in our country's final energy consumption requires to take vigorous action to improve energy efficiency in the Italian real estate stock", said the Director of the ENEA Department of Energy Efficiency Ilaria Bertini. “ENEA, as National Agency for Energy Efficiency, has always provided national and local institutions with its technical-scientific contribution to direct policies to support the development of energy efficiency in the residential sector, as shown by the National Portal on the energy performance of buildings, which also offers individual citizen useful information on investment opportunities for their properties, and the National Energy Efficiency Information and Training Program 'Italy in Class A' a driving force to intercept the demand for social innovation generated by sustainability policies. The Focus on energy efficiency is the result of a ten-year collaboration with the Fiaip and I-Com, which allows to align public and private entities to work towards the common goal of sustainable transition".

"In Italy the demand for energy-efficient and earthquake proof houses is growing, confirming a gradual, albeit slow, green real estate transition process, significantly boosted by tax incentives and energy price increases”, said Gian Battista Baccarini, the Fiaip National President. “A virtuous process which, however, risks being greatly slowed down both by the sudden elimination of the discount on the invoice, a measure which we believe should be gradually reconverted, and, even more, by the current formulation of the EU Energy Directive which, if not corrected, will have a devastating impact on the real estate market and consequently on the economy, causing a dip in property values with consequent impoverishment of Italian families and weakening of the most important and strategic guarantee of the national debt, the value of real estate owned properties".