House prices (provisional) - Q3 2021

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 2021, the HPI (see Italian IPAB) increased by 1.2% compared with the previous quarter and by 4.2% compared with the same quarter of the previous year (it was +0.4% in the second quarter).

The increase on annual basis of HPI was due to the speed-up of the growth of both the prices of new dwellings (from +2.0% in the second quarter to +3.9% in the third one) and the prices of the existing ones (which account for more than 80% of the aggregate index) which rose by 4.2% after having remained stable in the previous quarter.

The increase of HPI occurred in a context of clear growth of sales volume, as it was +21.9% the annual rate of change registered by the Observatory of Real Estate Market belonging to Tax Office for the residential sector in the third quarter of 2021.

The increase on quarterly basis of HPI was mainly due to the prices of new dwellings that recorded an increase of 3.0%, after the stability of the previous quarter; prices of existing dwellings also increased but to a lesser extent than in the previous quarter (+0.8% after +2.0%).

On average, in the first three quarters of 2021, compared to the same period of 2020, house prices increased by 2.1%, with the prices of new dwellings that increased by 2.2% and those of the existing ones that grew by 1.8%.