According to the usual quarterly statistics of the IMO; The data on home sales, in the fourth quarter of 2023, relating to the eight main Italian cities by population highlight a negative annual trend change of 5.7%, slightly higher than the national figure; there were approximately 1,800 fewer homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022.
The rates of trend change are negative for all cities, with Florence and Rome showing the highest drops, -8% and -11% respectively; followed by Turin (-3.2%) and Bologna with a decrease of 5.7%. In Milan and Naples the decrease was 2.3% and 2.7% respectively; finally, the decrease was more limited in Palermo, which recorded a change of -1.6%.
The overall positive trend of the eight cities since 2014, with a few exceptions limited to single quarterly data, it reaches its peak around 2016 and is then followed by a phase of progressive slowdown until the steep negative turn in the first two quarters of 2020, which is contrasted with an equally steep rise with all the main cities that in 2021 exceed the levels of previous years.
Rates then begin to progressively decline in the following quarters, with the exception of Milan and Palermo, where the increases accelerate in the second quarter of 2022. In the other quarters of 2022 the rates in Rome, Turin, Genoa and Bologna continue to decrease continuously, and then close 2022 with an increase but only in Genoa, Florence, Naples.
In 2023, in all quarters, trade shows trend decreases in all large cities, but in the last quarter there is a deceleration in degrowth.
In terms of surface area sold, the trend rates are all negative, in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2022. In Florence the decrease stands at 10.3%, in Rome at 10.4%; in the remaining cities the decline remains below 10%.
The average surface area of homes exchanged in the quarter increases in Milan and Bologna, is essentially stable in Rome and Genoa, and decreases in the remaining cities. The average surface area recorded, in the eight cities as a whole, an increase of 0.2 m2.
Dimensional cuts of the apartments sold
Examining the distribution of sales in the fourth quarter of 2023, we can once again observe that the prevailing share of purchases, approximately 41.6%, concerns the medium-small size, from 50 m2 up to 85 m2, with approximately 12,200 units exchanged in all of the eight big cities. In Naples and Palermo the distribution of sales between size classes is more balanced.
In this fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the same period of 2022, a decrease is observed for all size classes. The drop reaches approximately 5.7% in the eight cities as a whole, furthermore for properties with 17 surfaces smaller than 50 m2 and between 85m2 and 145 m2 the drop exceeds 7%. In the smaller size classes, Rome recorded a decline in sales of more than 10%.
