House prices (provisional)

The House Price Index (HPI) measures the evolution of market prices of all residential properties that are purchased by households (flats, detached houses, terraced houses, etc.), both new and existing, independently if bought for own-occupancy or as an investment.

According to preliminary estimates, in the third quarter of 2019 the HPI (see Italian IPAB) decreased by 0.3% compared with the previous quarter and increased by 0.4% compared with the same quarter of the previous year (it was -0.1% in the second quarter).

The increase on annual basis of HPI, the first since the fourth quarter of 2016, was mainly due to the prices of new dwellings that showed a speed-up from +0.5 in the second quarter to +1.3% in the third quarter. Also prices of existing dwellings, after ten quarters of consecutive declines, recorded a slight positive change on annual basis (+0.1%).

The increase of HPI occurred in a context of persistent growth of the volumes of sales (it was +5.0% the annual rate of change registered for the residential sector in the third quarter of 2019 by the Observatory of Real Estate Market belonging to Tax Office).

The decrease on quarterly basis of HPI was only due to the prices of existing dwellings (-0.5%), while prices for new dwellings increased (+0.8%).