The rally in the growth of rents in Italy does not stop, reaching record levels in April. Highlighting this is idealista, which in its latest report, showed that April 2023 closed “under the banner of a robust increase in rents of 3.1 percent, standing at 12.5 euros/m2, the highest level touched in Italy” since the real estate portal began its statistical surveys (2012).
This is a problem felt especially by students, who – protesting unaffordable rents – have begun camping in tents in front of universities. Of course, the values differ greatly depending on whether cities, provinces, and regions are considered.
Rent trends in Italy’s major capitals
Starting with cities, interesting trends emerged. Milan, as expected, remains at the top of the capitals with the highest rents, but during April, it was one of those cities with the lowest increases. “With 22 euros/m2, Milan was confirmed again in April as the city with the highest rents in the boot,” explains idealista, but during the month, the growth was 0.8 percent, on par with Rome, but much less than the national average.
In general, increases occurred in 58 percent of the capitals monitored. The highest ones occurred in Pesaro (16%), Massa (14.5%), and Ragusa (9.4%), while in 15 other centers, there were variations above the average for the period, ranging from 8.1% in Ravenna to 3.2% in Novara. In 5 cities, on the other hand, owners’ demands remained unchanged over the past month, while the most significant declines occurred in Arezzo (-9.3%), Cesena (-5.6%), and Lecce (-3.9%).
How did Italy’s leading city markets perform?
Substantial increases were recorded in Bologna (5.8%) and Bari (4.4%), while rents remained more stable in Naples (1.7%), Turin (1.2%), Milan and Rome (up – as mentioned earlier – by 0.8%) and fell in Florence (-1%) and Palermo (-2.1%).
The most expensive cities: ranking of the highest m2 prices
In pole is, precisely, Milan (22 euros/m2), followed by Florence (18.3 euros/m2), Bologna (18 euros/m2) and Venice (16.9 euros/m2).
The cheapest cities: ranking of the lowest prices per m2
In contrast, the most affordable cities for Italian renters turn out to be Caltanissetta (4.9 euro/m2 ), Reggio Calabria (5 euro/m2 ), and Vibo Valentia (5.4 euro/m2).
The impact of rents on Italians’ portfolios.
On average, Italian households use a quarter of their net income to pay rent. “Until 2019,” idealista experts explain, “the effort rate had remained within the 20 percent threshold, while since 2020, it has grown by almost five percentage points. In particular, Florence (31.7 percent) and Naples (30.4 percent) are the cities where rent weighs more than a third of household income.
Housing and bed shortage
“Rents have increased by about 20 percent in the last three years in the face of a drastic decline in the rental housing stock in our country, from 107,000 units in June 2021 to 42,000 units in December 2022, so the burden of rents is becoming increasingly unsustainable, particularly for households living in metropolitan cities,” explained Vincenzo De Tommaso, head of the idealist’s research office.
The Pnrr
We have great expectations from the Pnrr, which allocates 960 million euros for creating 60 thousand new beds by June 30, 2026. At the moment, however, only 8,500 have been created, of which 7,524 have already been allocated to university students. The remaining portion involves the entry of private operators since the public sector alone could not fully meet demand within three years.
