Rural Italy Proves Itself on the Property Investment Market

Bevagna is a largely unrealised rural area of Italy and hosts massive development potential, especially in light of the fact that such opportunities are becoming increasingly popular, particularly for British investors. With its close proximity to the nearest beach, investments in the area are surely going to prove financially rewarding. Italy’s government provide special incentives for potential foreign buyers and reduced restrictions have certainly encouraged investment. Whether its financial or recreational reward you’re looking for, San petro offers an abundance of either for any investor.

MORTGAGE DEMAND DROPPED IN LATE 2007

Mortgage demand from families wanting to buy houses dropped in the fourth quarter of 2007. This was reported by the ECB in its monthly bulletin, referring to a survey on banking credit in the euro zone by the Eurosystem in which a stiffening up of criteria for granting families loans was seen. "Over the past three months banks have signaled that criteria for granting loans to families have become even more rigid (21pct from 12pct in the previous survey)." This situation reflects the "deterioration of conditions on financial markets and the drop, compared with the previous quarter, both in expectations for general economic activity and market prospects for residential real estate."

Pirelli acquires 1 pct of shares in Pirelli real estate

Pirelli & C SpA has acquired 10.8 mln eur of shares in its unit Pirelli & C Real Estate SpA on the market, equivalent to about 1 pct, said Pirelli RE.

According to stock market regulator Consob, Pirelli already controls 55.1 pct of Pirelli RE, including Pirelli RE's own share stake of 2.7 pct.

Intesa Sanpaolo Plans to List Real Estate Fund

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's biggest retail bank with about 6,100 branches, said the real estate fund held 285 buildings totaling 471,500 square meters. Many of them are used by retail bank branches, most in central Rome and Milan.

SIIQs, the Italian version of real estate investment trusts, are an innovation in the country and have tax advantages for investors.

GIC and ING in $593m Italian retail property buy

GIC Real Estate, the property arm of the Government of Singapore, said on Tuesday they bought the Roma Est Shopping Centre for 400 million euros ($592.5 million) in Italy's record single-asset retail property deal.

Each party has bought a 50 percent stake in the property from Italian food-retailing leader Gruppo PAM.

Pirelli RE to bid for real estate funds

According to the daily, UniCredit's objective is not to sell the funds controlled by Pioneer but to find a partner with whom to develop and grow the real estate business.

UniCredit will retain a minority share in the asset management company that will take over the funds with a stake that will be defined when the closing of the deal is made, the daily said.