House prices (provisional)- Q1 2024

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 first quarter of 2024 the HPI (see Italian IPAB) decreased by 0.1% compared with the previous quarter and increased by 1.7% compared with the same quarter of the previous year (it was +1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023).

The increase on annual basis of HPI was mainly due to the prices of new dwellings, which grew by 5.4% (in deceleration compared to +8.8% in the previous quarter) and, to a lesser extent, to the prices of existing dwellings which recorded a slight growth (+0.8%).

The increase of HPI occured in a context of a decline of the sales volumes (according to the Observatory of Real Estate Market belonging to Tax Office, the corresponding annual rate of change for the residential sector was -7.2% in the first quarter of 2023, down from -3.3% in the previous quarter).

On quarterly basis, the slight decrease of the HPI was only due to the prices of new dwellings, that fell by 1.7% while those of existing dwellings rose by 0.2%.

Together with the release of HPI for the first quarter of 2024, the updated weights used to compile the indices are also disseminated. In particular, in 2024, the weight of new dwellings amounts to 17.36% (it was 17.72% in 2023) against 82.64% of the existing ones (it was 82.28% last year).