House prices

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 fourth quarter of 2018 the HPI (see Italian IPAB) decreased by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter and by 0.6% compared with the same quarter of the previous year (on annual basis it was -0.8% in the third quarter).

The decrease on annual basis of HPI was only due to the prices of existing dwellings that showed a negative rate of change equal to -0.7%, from -1.3% in the previous quarter, whereas new dwellings prices were stable on annual basis (from +1.6% in the third quarter).

The decrease of HPIoccured in the context of a persistent growth of the sales volumes (it was +9.3% the annual rate of change registered for the residential sector in the fourth quarter of 2018 by the Observatory of Real Estate Market belonging to Tax Office).

The slight decrease on quarterly basis in the HPI was mainly due to the decrease of prices of existing dwellings (-0.3%); prices of new dwellings, on the other hand, increased compared to the third quarter (+0.3%).

At territorial level different trends took place: the North-East was the only area in which the HPI increased (+1.2%); in the Center and South/Islands the decrease of HPI was wider than the national one (respectively -1.4% and -1.7%) while in the North-West the decrease was rather moderate (-0.2%).