Real estate market, increasing requests for peripheral areas and green mortgages

Italian real estate is changing its appearance, evolving and expanding in new directions. The latest edition of the Real Estate Data Hub , the six-monthly study of the residential and commercial real estate market in Italy by Remax Italia , Yard Reaas and 24Max , offers an in-depth analysis. The study, which focuses on 2024 while anticipating the prospects for 2025, focused in particular on the dynamics of four cities ( Milan , Rome , Bari and Turin ) together with their respective regions.

The residential market, after the decline in the first half of the year, has seen a progressive recovery with an increase in sales and an average increase in prices of over 3% . The largest percentage of transactions took place in Lombardy (35% of the total) and, speaking of individual cities, in Milan , followed by Rome and Turin . The three-room apartment is the most requested type, especially in the North (46% of preferences), while in the South there is an increasing focus on solutions with four or more rooms. It is worth noting the expansion of demand towards well-connected peripheral areas , a symptom of greater attention to the quality of life. In this regard, the founder and CEO of Remax Italia, Dario Castiglia , comments: “It is no longer just a question of square meters, but of services, context, well-being. The market is finding new life thanks to the greater supply in areas that until a few years ago were considered secondary. Looking to 2025, the outlook for the real estate market remains positive. Current forecasts indicate the possibility of further reductions in interest rates, a factor that could further stimulate demand, strengthening the growth phase of the sector”.

Turning to the mortgage market , the report highlights the positive context represented by the ECB rate cuts and by facilitation tools such as the First Home Guarantee Fund , which encourage a return to planning, especially by young families. Almost all mortgages (97.5%) are activated for the purchase of a first home , usually at a fixed rate (97.8%). The most active age group in this sense is between 35 and 44 years old (34% of applicants), followed by between 25 and 34 years old (32.4%). The demand for green mortgages is constantly growing, reaching over 10% of the total.

Then there are the other sectors of the market, starting with retail , which is recording a record volume of investments and growth distributed throughout the country, and which reveals positive prospects for the rest of 2025. The management sector confirms the interest in flexible, well-located spaces suitable for hybrid work models, with an ever-increasing focus on new-generation properties compliant with ESG models. Finally, it is worth mentioning the logistics sector, which shows good overall stability, and the hospitality sector, which remains stable also thanks to the growing interest in luxury hospitality .

“We are witnessing the consolidation of some macro-trends, such as the growing relevance of ESG factors, highlighted, for example, by the spread of green financing and the orientation of investors’ and tenants’ choices, not only in the management segment”, explains Laura Piantanida of Yard Reaas . “At the same time, the role of services supporting properties and their occupants is strengthening: this is the case of Build to Rent, an asset class that is also establishing itself in the Italian market”.