The costs of Rents in Italy showed new growth of 5.3% during the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest report published by idealista, the leading real estate portal for technological development in Italy. This increase brought the average price per square meter to 13.2 euros per month. Furthermore, there was a notable increase of 13.9% compared to the same period last year.
According to Vincenzo De Tommaso, Head of the Idealista Research Office: “The growth trend in rental home prices continued to show notable momentum in the first quarter of this year, especially in key South Central markets. This is attributable to a particularly lively rental demand, fueled by the growing difficulty in purchasing a house, considering interest rates and house prices still high. Indeed, despite the increase in the supply of rental homes, demand continues to outpace supply during 2024. However, initial signs of a realignment between supply, demand and prices are appearing in some of the leading cities of this market, like Milan and Turin. This suggests a diverse and fluid nature of the rental market across the country and could anticipate less pressure on prices in the second half of the current year.”
Capitals
In urban centres, there is a clear prevalence of growing markets, driven by the increases recorded in Treviso (11%), Rome (8.8%), Bergamo (7.9%), Palermo (7.5%) and Naples (7.3%). The positive variations range from 7% in Salerno to 0.1% in Cosenza, involving 59 of the 86 capital cities monitored. Only Cremona and Cesena maintain stable prices compared to three months ago. On the contrary, a decline was recorded in 27 capitals, with the steepest rates of decrease in Agrigento (-8.2%), Sassari (-7.9%) and Avellino (-5.3%).
Among the main Italian urban markets, in addition to the already mentioned strong rising performances of Rome and Naples, significant increases were also recorded in Turin (4.6%) and Bologna (3.4%), while Milan (1.7%) and Florence (1.6%) show smaller rebounds if the average increase in rents (5.3%) recorded at a general level is taken as a reference.
Milan is confirmed as the city with the most expensive rents, with an average price of 23.3 euros per square meter, followed by Florence (20.7 euros/m²), Bologna (17.2 euros/m²) and Venice (17 euro/m²). Also in the top 10 of the rental prices ranking are Rome (16.1 euro/m²) and Naples (14.7 euro/m²), seventh and eighth respectively in the rental price ranking. As for the most convenient cities, Caltanissetta stands out with an average cost of 4.9 euros per square meter, followed by Vibo Valentia (5 euros/m²) and Reggio Calabria (5.4 euros/m²).
Provinces
Even in the provincial markets there is a clear upward trend, with 49 areas recording an increase compared to the 19 decreases recorded during the winter months. Furthermore, strong price fluctuations are observed, as highlighted by the double-digit variations in Livorno (44.3%), Isernia (12.1%), Catanzaro (11.1%), Padua (10.7%) and Lucca (10.6%). However, equally significant drops were also reported in the provinces of Fermo (-27.1%) and Crotone (-13.3%).
As regards prices, Lucca becomes the province with the highest requests from owners of properties to rent, with an average price of 29.8 euros per square meter, followed by Belluno (27.5 euros/m²) and Milan (22.1 euros/m²). On the other hand, the most affordable provincial areas for renters include Enna (5 euros/m²), Caltanissetta (5.1 euros/m²) and Avellino (5.5 euros/m²).
Regions
During the quarter, an upward trend was observed involving 15 Italian regions, driven by the significant increases recorded in Lazio (8.9%), Molise (7.7%), Veneto (7.2%) and ‘Emilia-Romagna (7%). These variations exceed the average of the general increases for the quarter, which was 5.3% in Italy. Furthermore, above-average increases were also recorded in Campania (6.7%), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (6.4%) and Tuscany (5.7%).
On the contrary, in the same period, declines were noted in the regions of Basilicata (-3.4%), Marche (-1.8%), Trentino-Alto Adige (-0.8%) and Piedmont (-0 ,4%). Umbria, on the other hand, keeps prices stable compared to the previous three months.
Valle d’Aosta emerges as the region with the highest rents in Italy, with an average of 20 euros per square meter, followed by Lombardy (18.5 euros/m²) and Tuscany (17.2 euros/m² ). Emilia-Romagna (14.2 euros/m²) and Trentino-Alto Adige (13.9 euros/m²) also exceed the national average of 13.2 euros per square meter. Lazio (13.2 euro/m²) remains in line with the national average. All the other regions have values between 12 euros per month in Liguria and 6.6 euros in Molise, which is confirmed as the cheapest area for real estate rentals in Italy.
The Idealist Property Price Index
To create the idealista property price index, the offer prices based on built square meters (per unit) published by the platform’s advertisers are analysed. Atypical listings and listings with out-of-market prices are eliminated from the statistics. We include the type of single-family houses (villas) and discard properties of any type that have not obtained interactions from users for a long time. The final data is generated using the median of all valid listings in each market.
The complete report can be consulted at the following link: https://www.idealista.it/sala-stampa/report-price-immobile/editore/
