Abruzzo, The Property Market after the Earthquake

Abruzzo property market was performing well in the first months of 2009 as its popularity within buyers from abroad was increasing at a faster rate compared to other Italian regions, but then the earthquake drastically changed everything, bringing to the region a level of uncertainty making very hard to overcome the already tough crisis.

However, the biggest damage done to Abruzzo's economy (and to its property market) has not been caused by the earthquake itself, but by what we could call the “collateral damages” caused mainly by the media coverage this dramatic event had in that period.

The earthquake has badly hit Abruzzo's Capital L'Aquila and its surrounding villages but all the rest of the region has come out completely harmless, although this is not the impression that most of people had: Italian media covered the news as “Abruzzo and central Italy have been broken apart by a tremendous earthquake”.
If you went to Abruzzo in the few months right after the quake you could see tourist villages such as Castelli (famous worldwide for its ceramics) completely structurally sound but completely empty of visitors, when just few months earlier you could see its parking lots packed with buses full of tourists from all over the world. This has caused a bigger damage to Abruzzo's economy than the quake itself.

All of this has affected also the property market slowing it down, although not as much as expected. The enquiries sent for Abruzzo properties decreased by 19% in the 8 months after the quake compared to the first months of 2009. This decrease was stronger in the first 4 months after the quake to recover a little in the last four months of the year. 

This makes think that the property market in Abruzzo will weather the storm and will see an increase throughout 2010. To back this prevision the enquiries sent for Abruzzo in January 2010 are 42% up compared to January 2009.

Requests for homes in Abruzzo are mainly from Americans and British (39% of the enquiries) followed by Germans, Belgians, Dutch, Swedish and French (all together accounting for 42% of the enquiries). The average price of the properties enquired is €159,850, mainly restored or in habitable conditions (61%), with 2 bedrooms (44.9%).

Despite the enquiries are as a majority for properties in good conditions, there’s also a good number of requests for restoration homes and if one wants a property to restore then Abruzzo is the right region to choose from: first of all there’s plenty of availability, the style of the properties is very nice, it allows the owner to end up with a very beautiful and worthy property and, most important, prices for properties in need of restoration are still low.

The average prices for a country house measuring about 100 sq. m. to be restored nowadays is around €80/100,000 but it is possible to find much better deals, we list on our portal country houses starting from as little as €50,000 for something of that size, even less for smaller properties. The southern part of Abruzzo is generally cheaper than the northern part, especially close to the border with the Molise region. Abruzzo also attracts buyers because of its high mountains with its ski resorts along with a very beautiful coast. To buy a nice 1 bedroom apartment by the coast are needed around €100/120,000 which can be also rented out as an holiday rental.

As many investors consider to rent out the property they buy in the period they don't use it, it's useful to have in mind a holiday rental prospect: to give a rough idea a 1 bedroom apartment, sleeps 4, by the sea (first or second row of homes from the beach) can go from €200/300 per week during the low season to €1000/1200 per week during the high season. The period in which this type of apartments can be rented can go from May to October, anyhow the weather allows to have very warm and nice days also in November, so one can also dare to rent out for longer periods.

Abruzzo is still a genuine region, especially the people are very genuine and hard worker. This is reflected also in other aspects such as the food, very tasty and at a very low price. The nature in Abruzzo is genuine too, as it is plenty of natural parks and reserves and a wilderness that it is not easy to find in other areas of Europe, for instance Abruzzo is the house of the Marsican Brown Bear, one of the few species of bear left in Europe.

Abruzzo is such a beautiful region that if you decide to buy a property there you’ll hardly regret it.

If you are interested, have a look at our list of properties in Abruzzo