INVESTING IN TUSCANY
The Tuscan real estate market has reached a turnover of about 10,4 billion Euros in 2010, increasing the volume of trades of 3% with an average price increase of 4%.
In the period that goes from 2001 to 2010 the increase of the turnover has been linear and constant with an important growth in the years 2003-2004.
The volume of trades has increased of an average 5.5% in Tuscany with peaks of 6.1% in the main cities in the years 2006-2007.
The analysis of prices in sample areas in Tuscany underlines some interesting data: the most expensive areas in Tuscany are Forte dei Marmi, Marina di Pietrasanta and Lido di Camaiore, with prices ranging from 18/20 thousand Euros per sq. meter in Forte dei Marmi to 10 thousand Euros in the rest of the Riviera of Versilia.
Regarding Florence and its characteristic historical centre, prices seem to be increasing and right now they are about 8/9 thousand Euros per sq. meter.
It is very interesting for its price/return relation the purchase of the typical Tuscan farmhouse with its price of about 3500 Euros per sq. meter.
In this context, another type of property with strong possibilities of development is the flat inside farmhouses, more and more demanded by international customers.
A monthly rent for an average house near the sea can reach 4 thousand Euros during high season and 30/40 thousand Euros for a prestigious villa in Forte dei Marmi.
A monthly rent for an average house near the sea can reach 4 thousand Euros during high season and 30/40 thousand Euros for a prestigious villa in Forte dei Marmi.
The demand for a holiday house in Tuscany is getting stronger and stronger also thanks to a new interest from foreign buyers, particularly British and American but even Dutch, French and mainly Russian.
The most interesting areas for this kind of investment are mainly along the coast or in inland small historical centres renown for their natural beauty and considered unique all over the world.
Surely the most requested areas, not including the internationally most interesting historical centres like Firenze, Pisa and Lucca , are Chianti, Maremma, the Tuscan Archipelago islands and Versilia, The last one renown not only for the beauty of its coast and its attractions but also for its proximity to 5 Terre and the Apuans Alps easily reached in half an hour on the panoramic road along the coast.
The most requested properties are every kind of flat, in historical centres, in small buildings in seaside resorts or artistically renown places, in farmhouses, in farm holiday centres; these properties are usually quite small, with a garden or a terrace and preferably with the view on the sea or on the hills.
Because of the great demand and the quite small offer these properties a valid form of investment because of their constant value: let’s consider that while in the whole of Italy the value or real estate properties has fallen of 20/30%, in Versilia, for example, the demand for properties is still much bigger than the offer and consequently prices per square metre haven’t decreased.
Anyway it is important to underline the presence of good investments even in farmhouses, farms with olive groves or vineyards.
The main buyers are mainly Italian and coming from Tuscany (mainly for the properties on the coast) and from Lombardy, Lazio and Emilia Romagna.
If the Italian investor is mainly attracted from seaside places like Argentario o Versilia, where to spend not only Summer but even weekends during the year, the foreign investor is historically attracted to the market in the Siena area, the Chianti hills and Val d’Orcia, places where the request for farmhouses, cottages and farmsteads is always strong.
