Prices for premium second homes in Italy continue to rise, although at a slower pace. The news comes from a new study into the second home market by Italian estate agents association FIMAA.  “Demand for prestige properties has gained pace compared to 2007,due to the ever growing numbers of  foreign buyers,” says FIMAA President Bruno Paludet. “The rest of the market, by contrast, appears to be extremely choosy in the middle range and extremely price-sensitive at the lower end.”
The biggest price growth, says Fabrizio Savorani, chief of  FIMAA’s Tourist Market department, come from “the best resale properties, either situated in panoramic spots or by the sea, with easy access to beach, marina or ski slopes; and from new builds, especially bright and airy ones with large outdoor areas—not necessarily very big but, if small, functional and rational in layout.” In this cases, average increases have been in the region of 3.9% for mountain homes and 3.4% for seaside ones.
Llocation makes a huge difference. Prestigious, fashionable and sought-after resorts have seen rises of 4% or above, as are locations where access has improved significantly or where infrastructure or development projects are giving new impulse to demand.  Among the former, Milano Marittima and Marina di Ravenna, two trendy resorts in the Romagna riviera, have seen spikes of 6.8% and 5.3% respectively, while, in the mountains, exclusive Cortina d’Ampezzo registered a 4.6% growth.

Places like Sardinia’s lovely Villasimius, which has a new motorway link to the international airport in Cagliari, but also cheap and cheerful Rimini, where plans are afoot for a renovation and improvement of the seafront, have experienced rises in the region of 4.3%-4.5%.

Although smaller in scale than in the past, the latest increases have ensured that there are now nine resorts where average prices for premium new-build properties are above €10,000 per square metre—Cortina d’Ampezzo, Porto Cervo, Santa Margherita Ligure, Forte dei Marmi, Capri, Madonna di Campiglio, Alassio, Porto Rotondo and Positano—against seven in 2007 and five in 2006 (the FIMAA report does not include Portofino.. Of these, only two—Madonna di Campiglio and the super-expensive Cortina, where prices reach €16,521 per square metre—are mountain resorts. That said, on average, prices for mountain homes grew more than those for seaside ones.  It is the first time this happens in the last three years.