Invest in Italian property? – you must be crazy!

We’ve frequently been dismissive of the idea of Italian property as an investment. In fact the following text has been on our Frequently Asked Questions page for many years…

“While prices are rising, the large amount of rural property available and the relatively high costs of buying and selling make it unlikely that dealing in Italian property is a quick route to a fortune. However, should you sell at some point in the future it is unlikely that you will make a loss.”

When the value of the pound started falling against the Euro last year, making buying in Italy much more expensive, and with a recession appearing likely, many people decided to put their foreign property purchase ideas on hold. However this year business is picking up. Let’s look the reasons for this and suggest why we think (we're not financial advisors or investment planners) investing in Italy at the present time seems to be gaining in popularity.

1) Property prices in Tuscany haven’t crashed and there is no sign that this is going to happen. Tuscany has been popular with British, and other foreign buyers for a couple of centuries and there is no sign that this love affair is ending. The reduced number of potential foreign buyers over the past year does seem to have encouraged some Italian vendors to reduce their prices and to be more willing to negotiate than previously.

2) Hard times back in the UK have encouraged some British owners to sell. Bargains have become available here as the strength of the Euro has encouraged many of them to lower their (Euro) prices to encourage a quick sale. For example one property that has been on the market for 80,000 euro for several years is in the process of changing hands for just over 50,000 euro. The vendors are not making a loss on this.

3) Interest rates are at a historic low. If you have cash to invest banks are probably not the best place for it. Conversely, if you want to buy a property and need a mortgage it is unlikely that you will ever be able to borrow money more cheaply than at present.

Drop us an email, or give us a call if you’d like to talk about the possibilities. Property for sale priced between 35,000 and 1.2 million Euro can be found on our sale listings.