How is the property market in Piemonte being affected by the current world financial crisis?
Are property prices in Piemonte sliding as per the UK and other parts of Europe?
Is now the right time to buy property in Italy?
These are the sort of questions we are being asked on a daily basis by existing home owners, the media, and potential new buyers.
Indeed there has been an effect on the current property market here in Piemonte but nothing as drastic as currently being seen in the UK and other countries.
The biggest change in the market is the absence of clients who need substantial borrowing to finance their Italian purchase, this borrowing normally being secured by equity in their homes in their country of residence.
House prices in many parts of Europe are tumbling and the banks attitude to lending has changed . This for sure will be a short term challenge as the banks must make revenue through mortgages and lending which are very profitable for them, albeit within sensible parameters.
That said, we are still busy with foreign clients from all over world, the difference being they have their finance already in place or only require a small mortgage which can also be obtained from an Italian bank.
Property prices here at the moment are stable which is partly due to fact that although prices in the region have increased over the past few years, they never reached the unrealistic heights experienced in some other countries.
A further important consideration is that Italian banks are very conservative with their “lending policy” and as such Italy whilst not unaffected is not experiencing the major crisis seen in other parts of the world.
More and more Italians are investing into the area, wanting to escape from city life and feel that their money is better placed in bricks and mortar rather than the stock market and banks. In fact we have had several Italian owners withdraw their properties for sale for these very same reasons.
Crisis? Not at the moment. The market is moving along nicely and there is always the occasional bargain where owners have need and urgency to sell – of course nobody has a crystal ball with which to predict the future, however this area of Italy is rather special and we are not expecting sharp drops in property values and as such buying in the Piemonte region is still considered a good long term investment.