Following the worsening of the international economic crisis, housing demand significantly dropped in Italy, but Italians continue to see property as a good medium-term investment, according to a new report.
The Italian property market is now suffering the consequences of the global economic crisis, but Italians still perceive housing as a reasonably safe investment and the sector is expected to recover in 2010, the report from economic intelligence company Nomisma indicates.
Analysts found that residential property sale volumes decreased by 15.1% in 2008. However, the drop was particularly marked in the last quarter of the year, after the deepening of the financial crisis eroded consumers' confidence, it says.
In the other property sectors office sales fell by 11.7% and the commercial real estate market saw decline of 8.7%.
