In the fourth quarter of 2020, notary agreements regarding sales of real estate units and any other kind of exchange of properties and appurtenances in return for payment were 245,240.
In comparison with the previous quarter real estate unit exchange agreements rose overall by 3.2% and by 4.9% on an annual basis. In conjunction with the measures adopted to contain Covid-19, the first six months of 2020 showed a sharp decline. In the summer months real estate unit exchange agreements rose, following the gradual easing of these measures. Although with different intensities, the recovery continued in the last quarter both in comparison with previous quarter and in comparison with fourth quarter of 2019.
94.2% of agreements concluded concerned real estate unit exchange agreements for residential use (231,100), 5.4% for economic use (13,276) and 0.4% for special uses and multi-owned properties (864).
In comparison with the previous quarter, the growth affected the whole territory both for residential sector (Centre +5.5%, Islands +4.7, North-East +3.7%, North-West +1.9%, South +0.9%, total value for Italy +3.1%) and for the economic sector (Islands +24.9%, Centre +13.7%, North-West +4.1%, South +1.0%, North-East +0.3%, total value for Italy +5.9%).
Compared with the fourth quarter 2019, real estate unit exchange agreements rose overall by 5.2% in the residential sector and by 1.4% in the economic sector.
The trend growth observed for the housing sector affected entire country: Centre (+7.2%), North-East (+6.1%), North-West (+4.6%), Islands (+3.7%), South (+3.2%), and, in general, the small towns (+6.3%) and metropolitan cities (+3.7%). The economic sector increased in Islands (+20.3%), Centre (+11.5%) and, in general, in small municipalities (+4.1%); instead it registred a decline in North-West (-4.5%), South (-2.9%), North-East (-0.2%) and in metropolitan cities (-2.5%).
Mortgage-secured loans (112,551) rose by 7.4%, compared with the previous quarter, and by 2.0% on an annual basis. The increase concerned the entire national territory both compared with the previous quarter (Centre +10.0%, Islands +9.5%, North-West and South +7.1%, North-East +5.3%) and compared with the fourth quarter 2019 (North-East +3.9%, Centre +1.9%, South +1,6%, North-West +1.2%, Islands +0.3, metropolitan cities +2.7% and small municipalities +1.5%).