International Real Estate Italy and the New York Times

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Photo Andrea Wyner for The New York Times

International real estate listings don’t come more exciting for overseas property buyers than luxury homes in Italy. The New York Times have highlighted one such piece of glorously stylish Milan real estate showing how Milan could be the next place for Italian property. 

Milan is dominated by local buyers, with foreign buyers making up a small percentage, said Simone Rossi, the managing director at Gate-Away, a website that promotes Italian property to overseas buyers. Foreign buyers making inquiries through the site are more often interested in living close to but outside Milan in the Lake Como area, he said.

Among foreign buyers within Milan, Europeans make up the largest share, particularly the French, Germans and Swiss, Mr. Magaglio said. Some Russians who like to attend fashion and design events have purchased pieds-à-terre to use on their visits. And more Chinese have started to buy in the last couple of years, he said.

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The Milanese still have a Midas touch — a fifth of Italy’s gross domestic product is produced in Lombardy, and in 2015 the region had seven of the top 10 districts in Italy by average income, according to data published by newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

The region’s capital, Milan, was less affected by the 2008 global crisis than most parts of Italy. Now it is one of several cities in Europe hoping to pick up some of the spoils should London’s financial institutions shift their operations elsewhere post-Brexit.

Milan Facts

  • Accessibility Milan has three airports and is seven hours by train from Paris and Frankfurt and four hours from Geneva
  • Regulation In a 2016 World Bank report on the ease of doing business, Italy was ranked 50th out of 190 countries
  • Infrastructure The Expo last year brought significant investment in transport infrastructure and the site is set to become a technology park
  • Residential property Redevelopment of brownfield sites at Porta Nuova has provided new apartments

Luxury real estate Italy For Sale

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$2.44 MILLION (2.3 MILLION EUROS)

This 3,600-square-foot, three-level loft was built in 2008 within a former industrial building. It is a stand-alone unit, not part of an association, according to Roberto Magaglio, the listing agent with Engel & Völkers and the agency’s licensed partner for Milan. The loft is about a 10-minute drive from the old city center, not far from the tree-lined Corso Sempione thoroughfare and the Parco Sempione. The Milan airport is about a 30-minute drive.

The main entrance leads to the open living area, with wall-height windows, marble floors and vaulted, 20-foot ceilings. The gas fireplace, in a shelflike wall recess, is remote-controlled. A glass wall separates the kitchen from the living area. The kitchen has stainless-steel appliances and thick wood counter tops. Amenities include a professional-quality gas stove and a wine cooler, along with a high-end prosciutto slicer.

More Details here

Italian real estate market

The most expensive houses can be found in Venice, with an average house price of around €4,383 (US$ 4,808) per sq. m., followed by Milan with €3,489 (US$ 3,827) per sq. m., Bolzano with €3,420 (US$ 3,752) per sq. m., Rome with €3,396 (US$ 3,725) per sq. m., and Florence with €3,394 (US$ 3,723).

Sales continued to rise for the second consecutive year. In 2015, residential property sales were up by 6.5%, with about 445,000 residential properties sold, according to Agenzia delle Entrate, as reported by ANSA. Milan had the highest increase in house sales, with a 13.4% rise in 2015. Other cities with stronger sales included: Palermo (13%), Florence (8.9%), Turin (7.9%), Naples (6.6%), and Bologna (4.2%). Residential property sales in Rome also rose, but at a slower pace, by 0.8%.

According to Agenzia delle Entrate, the increase in home sales were brought by a significant improvement in the mortgage market, with the number of mortgages rising by 19.5% in 2015, to 193,000.

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