By CarloGiovanni Boffa and Alessandro Parodi
March 20 (Reuters) - House prices in Italy were flat in
the last quarter of 2022 from the previous three months and
posted the smallest annual rise since mid-2021, data showed on
Monday, reflecting a slowing economy and rising mortgage rates.
The rate-sensitive real estate sector has recently seen a
global decline as central banks have rushed to tighten their
monetary policy to fight soaring inflation after a decade of
cheap money.
National statistics bureau ISTAT's house price index (HPI)
posted positive quarter-on-quarter readings for seven straight
quarters before declining by 1.1% in the third quarter of last
year, followed by the stagnant reading in the fourth.
The HPI was still up 2.8% on an annual basis in the
October-to-December period, slowing marginally from 2.9% growth
in the third quarter and 5.2% in the second.
The euro zone's third largest economy contracted by 0.1% in
the fourth quarter from the previous three months, following
0.4% growth in the third quarter, ISTAT reported earlier this
month.
While Italian house prices were stagnant overall in the
fourth quarter, there were marked regional and city-by-city
disparities, ISTAT said.
Among large cities, Milan saw a quarterly rise of 1.8% while
Rome and Turin saw declines of 0.2% and 1.7% respectively.
Despite the weakness in the second half of the year, over
the whole of 2022 average house prices rose by 3.8%, the
strongest reading since ISTAT's HPI series was introduced in
2010, driven by Italy's richer northern regions.
The price of new homes increased 6.1% from 2021, while
existing houses were up 3.4%.
Looking ahead, a Bank of Italy survey last week showed that
the country's estate agents see house prices declining in 2023.
Survey participants pointed to lengthening times frame
required to close a sale due to a growing gap between asking and
bidding prices.
Despite the slowdown in prices, a separate note published on
Friday by ISTAT showed that the construction of new houses in
January hit its highest level since last March last year.
(editing by Gavin Jones)
