After a 2023 marked by the increase in interest rates, which inevitably had effects on mortgages and consequently on sales, in 2024 the increase in the cost of home financing appears to have stopped. This is how you are reflecting on real estate market? idealist/news asked the president of the National Council of Notaries, Giulio Biinowho also spoke about the rule on the circulation of goods of donated originexplaining that its introduction “would lead to a reduction in potential disputes” and to easier circulation, which is why “we don’t stop believing in it and fighting for it”.
On the sales front, has the new year opened with a breath of optimism, albeit a faint one, or is there still a lot of caution? What is the perception of the Notary?
“Our perception of the performance of the real estate market is one of a certain confidence, because the trend of continuous growth in rates that characterized the whole of 2023 seems to have stopped in the current year. In the United States, the Fed recently announced a rate cut in three successive steps during 2024. Typically, this monetary policy is also taken up in some way by Europe and therefore by Italy.
The last quarter of 2023 had already marked a slowdown in the decline in the number of deeds, as well as in the number of mortgages. There had been a sort of stabilization. This suggests that there may be some real recovery in 2024.
I am convinced that it is not just a numerical issue, which is certainly important, but also a question of regaining confidence on the part of consumers. The citizen is not suggestible to the point that the moment he sees a decrease in the rate he immediately turns to the market and the mortgage, he must realize that this trend reversal is structural. At that point it is to be hoped that the market will actually recover”
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport intends to launch a new Housing Plan starting from 2025. An important project for our country?
“As a Notary we certainly appreciate the fact that there is attention from the government and then from the Ministry of reference to the housing issue. This is despite young people no longer seeing the purchase of a home as the natural outcome of their life as a couple or as a single. This trend has in fact changed somewhat over the years in Italy too, where however – unlike many countries, especially Anglo-Saxon ones – the home continues to be a point of reference.
As a Notary we can only see favorably the fact that the government with subsequent housing plans is careful to encourage public residential construction, sustainable homes, green homes, which allow the increase in volumes at zero or reduced costs, which therefore the entire market can benefit from this attention.
We ourselves put the house at the center of our last Congress. It had been a long time since we had done it and evidently we were right if the Holy Father even thought of sending us a message of good wishes at the opening of the proceedings, highlighting how important it was that a category like ours, which has its home somewhat at the center of its activities, also put it at the center of its reflections and proposals. And our proposals, which we are trying to bring forward at the right ministerial tables, range from co-housing to silver co-housing, from attention to the green market to sustainable homes”.
Among the objectives of the Notary is to encourage the circulation of real estate. You hoped for the inclusion of the rule on the circulation of donated goods in the 2024 Budget Law. What do you ask on this front?
“We continue to believe very much in the law, in the proposal we made at the end of last year, which had resulted in its inclusion in the draft budget law and which was then removed, but solely for reasons of compatibility of the matter. We are still at work, with all the relevant ministries – therefore the Ministry of Finance, obviously our Ministry which is that of Justice, the government itself and also Raffaele Fitto’s Ministry, the one dedicated to the Pnrr.
The introduction of this rule would lead to a reduction in potential litigation,
which is one of the pillars of the Pnrr, we are therefore convinced that this vehicle can also be the destination for this regulation and we are equally convinced that a facilitation of circulation such as this regulation could produce is essential, so we do not stop believing in it and fighting for it . I am confident that sooner or later we will succeed.”
The Notary has created several guides on the house. Which ones have attracted the most interest and which, in his opinion, are indispensable and why?
“The Notary has been collaborating with the most important consumer associations for many years to produce guides for citizens in collaboration with them. We believe that they are very important because they have three essential advantages: the first advantage is that they are reliable, precisely because they come from the Notary Office and therefore the source that introduces the data into the guide is a reliable source; the second is that they can be freely downloaded from the Notary website and therefore are freely available for all citizens to consult; the third is that they are practical and simple, they deal with the topics that are the subject of each guide with a question and answer method, with the help of examples, and therefore have a usability suitable for the general public.
Our intention is to continue updating them to make them always current. We recently produced a guide on voluntary jurisdiction, the major reform that has seen us become alternatives to the judge in a whole series of authorizations that provide for intervention in the actions of incompetent or minors. Furthermore, we also recently came out with a study on an extremely complex subject such as tax bonuses and I must say that the feedback we are receiving demonstrates that once again the depth and reliability of our studies are appreciated by the entire market ”.
With 2024 he has reached his third year of presidency. One of his objectives was to change the image of the Notary. Did he succeed?
“I am in my third year of office and I alternate between moments in which I am very sorry at the idea that it is the last year and moments in which I instead say ‘luckily’ because I am taking this enormous burden off. But in reality this is not the case, because it is and continues to be a beautiful adventure and a beautiful challenge.
I would like anyone who reads this interview to answer this question. Is the impression of having in front of you a notary who is a little closer to the people, a notary who is perhaps even friendly, which doesn’t hurt, or even that notary who is difficult to reach, sometimes seen as grumpy, dusty, ancient? Here you are,
I think that the process of bringing the notary closer to the population has absolutely begun
and once that path is traced back there is no going back. I therefore believe that it will leave a mark and I hope that my colleagues who follow will continue to follow this path.”
