Italian real estate market: Rome leads subsidized purchases, growing rents

If you look at the main Italian cities, you can see that Rome recorded a +0.4%, while Milan is stuck at 0 (there was only one more sale compared to 2025). Florence is in difficulty and loses 8.3%.

Still looking at the larger urban centers, we can also see that Rome is the city with the highest share of subsidized home purchases, over 85%. Genoa follows with 80% and in third place is Bologna with 78%.

Purchases assisted by mortgages remain significantly below 50% of the national total, standing at 46.6%. In Rome, Bologna, Milan and Florence, however, a mortgage was registered for more than half of the operations.

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Then there is the chapter of rents. In the quarter examined, rentals saw 248 thousand contracts, with an annual growth of 3.1%. The overall volume of annual fees agreed in the contracts reaches almost 1.7 billion euros, an increase of 6.3% compared to the same period in 2025.

In the capital there were 13 thousand new contracts, with a trend growth of just above 6%, accompanied by an increase in the overall annual rent of 9.6%.

Even in Milan the number of new rentals continues to grow, reaching approximately 13,700 units, almost 7% more than in the same quarter of 2025. The overall annual rent agreed in the new contracts is also increasing, by almost 6%.

Returning to sales, an increase in interest rates has been recorded for some months. And a few days ago, on September 10, the European Central Bank, as expected, raised rates again by a quarter of a percentage point. Inflation certainly weighs on the decision, which jumped to 3.3% in August and to the highest since September 2023, with the rush of gas and oil. The new tightening came after that of June and after the break in July.

The new increase of 25 basis points in the reference rates decided by the ECB Board of Directors in the last meeting "is destined to have repercussions on the attitude of families towards the housing project", explains Nomisma. "Moreover, during phases characterized by high uncertainty, with upward risks for inflation and downward risks for economic growth, families traditionally tend to adopt a particularly prudent attitude and to postpone, as far as possible, the most burdensome spending commitments, such as the purchase of a property".

"This is also linked to the preference shown by Italians for the fixed rate", highlights Nomisa, "which, at the moment, characterizes around 9 out of 10 mortgages, as a form of protection against any further rate increases.

For further information:

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