In the first and second quarter of 2020, there was a significant decline in notary agreements regarding sales of real estate units and any other kind of exchange of properties and appurtenances in return for payment. Total number of sales amounted to 157,126 in the first quarter 2020 (-17.9% compared with fourth quarter 2019 and -17.7% on an annual basis) and to 149,764 in the second quarter (-17.3% compared with the previous quarter and -30.8% on an annual basis).
In comparison with the previous quarter, the residential sector showed negative changes in all geographical areas of the country (Centre -23.7%, South -20.7%, Islands -19.9%, North-west -14.1%, North-east -10.7%; total value for Italy -16.9%) as well as the economic sector (Centre -38.9%, Islands -27.3%, South -22.6%, North-west -20.6%, Nord-east -13.8%; Italy -24.4%).
Almost the total of notary agreements (95.0%) concerned transfers of residential properties (142,265), followed by transfers of properties for business purposes (7,002; 4.7%) and estates for special uses and multi-owned properties (497; 0.3%).
Compared with the second quarter 2019, real estate unit exchange agreements decreased overall by 30.8% (-30.4% residential sector; -37.9% economic sector), accelerating the decline on annual basis already highlighted in the first quarter (-17.7%).
The decrease on annual basis, observed in the second quarter, affected the entire national territory both for housing sector (Islands -38.8%, South -34.9%, Centre -30.8%, Nord-west -30.5 and North-east -23.5%; small and large cities, respectively -31.6% e -29.0%) and for economic sector (Islands -42.5%, North-west -39.9%, Centre -39.0%, South -38.0% and Nord-east -31.9%; large and small cities: -38.3% and -37.6%).
In the second quarter, mortgage-secured loans (84,284) decreased by 11.5%, compared with the previous quarter, and by 20.9% compared with the same quarter of the previous year, accentuating the decline on quarterly and annual basis already observed in the first quarter (-9.9% and -14.0% respectively). The decrease affected the entire national territory both on quarterly basis (Centre -22.5% South -14.9% Islands -12.8% North-east -6.8% and North-west -5.3%) and on annual basis (Islands -30.2%, South -26.6%, Centre -22.0%, North-west -20.3%, North-east -14.7%; small and large cities: respectively -24.0% and -16.8%).