How did the housing market fare in 2022?

The report “ Housing market – purchases and sales and mortgages from notary sources “ by Istat, covering the first quarter of 2022: interestingly, the figures are up and represent a further surge from an already positive 2021, when compared with a suffering 2020.

How did the housing market fare in 2022

Data on real estate purchases and sales

According to the report’s data, 236,599 notarized purchase and sale agreements and deeds of transfer for consideration for real estate units took place in the first three months of 2022. Thus, growth is +1.3 percent over the numbers reported for the previous quarter and as much as +10.1 percent year-on-year.

In detail, 94.5 percent of these aforementioned agreements were for purchases and sales for residential purposes (223,568), while 5.2 percent were for transfers for economic use (12,281) and 0.3 percent were for special use and timeshare properties (750).

The increase concerns both residential and business use: there is a +9.9 percent increase in residential real estate transactions compared to the first quarter of 2021 and a +14.2 percent in the business segment.

The details of the percentages of real estate purchases and sales

In a quarter-on-quarter comparison, here is a breakdown of the growth rates in notarized real estate purchase and sale agreements, for residential use:

  • Center -0.1%;
  • Islands +3.1%;
  • South +1.8%;
  • Northwest +1.7 percent;
  • Northeast +0.6 percent.

As for the economic sector, however, it is up in the Center +7.6 percent; in the Northwest, with +4.3 percent; and in the South +0.6 percent, but it is down in the Islands -9.3 percent and in the Northeast, with -0.8 percent.

In the year-on-year comparison, the percentages of residential real estate purchases and sales are increasing throughout the country:

  • Center +11.3%;
  • Islands +17.0%;
  • South +12.8%;
  • Northwest + 8.4 percent;
  • Northeast +6.2%;
  • small towns +10.0%;
  • metropolitan cities +9.8%

This growth can also be seen, again on an annual basis, in the economic sector: South +19.4%, Northwest +17.8%, Central +15.8%, Northeast +12.3%, small towns +16.5% and metropolitan cities +11.0%. The only decrease in this regard is in the Islands, with -6.9 percent.

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The data on mortgage applications

According to Istat data, notary agreements for mortgages and loans are also on the rise: in fact, there were 106,673 in the first quarter of 2022. Thus, +4.9 percent over the previous benchmark quarter and +3.6 percent on an annual comparison basis. The growth is overall, both in the quarter-on-quarter comparison

  • South +7.8%;
  • Northwest +4.8%,
  • Center +4.6 percent,
  • Northeast +4.2%;
  • Islands +3.2%.

Both on an annual basis:

  • Islands +7.6%;
  • Center +5.5 percent,
  • South +4.5 percent,
  • Northwest +3.7 percent;
  • Northeast +0.3 percent;
  • metropolitan cities +4.9%;
  • small towns +2.5%.
The housing market in 2022 also saw strong growth in mortgage applications and financing

Istat’s general commentary on housing market data in 2022

Istat commented thus on the data referring to the first quarter of 2022: “In the first quarter of 2022. the housing market continues to grow both in comparison with Q1 2021 (itself already recovering over the first three months of 2020, in which the first signs of suffering from the onset of the pandemic had been observed) and in comparison with Q1 2019 (+23.9%).

While in Q1 2021 the trend increase in buying and selling had affected small towns more (+41.8% vs. +30.8% in big cities), in Q1 2022 it is more evenly distributed (+10.4% and +9.9%). Notarial agreements for mortgages, loans and other obligations with the establishment of a real estate mortgage also appear to be on the upswing overI quarter 2021 and the same quarter of 2019.”