Italian property selling at ‘snailpace’

It is taking longer and longer to sell a property in Italy these days….

The trend among of Italians to buy their own homes or to invest in real estate appears to be waning, according to a study by sector operator Tecnocasa.

Six months ago, Tecnocasa recalled, it took an average of 118 days between when a house in a major Italian city was put on the market and when it was sold. Today that period has extended to 135 days, some two weeks more. Although Tecnocasa did not say what effect this delay had on accepted offers, the agency did admit that there has been a decline in prices.

The slowdown in the housing market, Tecnocasa observed, was for the most part due to a rise in mortgage rates and the time banks are taking to extend loans. This also in view of the recent subprime crisis in the United States.

Declining real estate prices?

In its study, Tecnocasa examined trends in ten Italian cities and the surrounding metropolitan areas and found that Florence was the city where houses sold the fastest, an average of 106 days, while Verona was the slowest, 175 days or some six months.

In Bari sales took an average of 161 days and in Bologna they took 153, while in Milan they took 135 days and in Rome an average of 119 days, or about four months.

According to Tecnocasa, the time period for a home to sell was considerably longer outside the city limits in the suburbs, a nationwide average of 142 days, which included 217 days outside Bologna, some 7.2 months.

Tecnocasa said that in the coming months it will be possible to calculate more accurately what effect a longer period on the market is having on declining real estate prices.