Who’s the typical home buyer in Italy in 2023 and what’s the scenario compared to the pre-Covid-19 pandemic?

At Gate-away.com we have asked around 40,000 potential buyers from all over the world looking for a property in the ‘boot-shaped’ country.

These are the results of the survey that we have just conducted.

Who are the international investors looking for a home in Italy

Nowadays 60% of potential overseas investors interested in buying Italy real estate are men and 40% are women. This means a +10% of men compared to the pre-Covid-19 period.

Also the age range changed a little bit. As a matter of fact the number of those who are over 66 grew a lot and now they are 29% compared to the previous 18%. On the contrary the number of those who are between 46 and 55 decreased with a 20% compared to a previous 31%. The number of those who are 56-65 and those who are 36-45 remained quite stable with respectively 46% and 7%.

What about their marital status?

78% are married or in a relationship and 33% have children in the household.

Their cultural level remains high as 54% are university graduates and only 2% have no degree.

35% are employed for wages and 31% are self-employed while 32% are pensioners.

What is prompting them to look for a property in Italy

In this case they could choose more than one reason and so 70% of those who have answered said that they are mainly driven to invest in the Belpaese to improve their quality of life. 52% are looking for nature and a mild climate and another 52% for art, culture and traditions.

34% are attracted by ‘made in Italy’ food and fashion, while 31% seek to return to their roots having Italian origins. The choice is also due to a good quality/price ratio of both real estate and the cost of living in general for a 23% of them.

Why are they thinking of investing in Italy?

The main reason (44%), which is also on the rise, is that they’d like to spend the years of their retirement in Italy. In the past this option accounted for 39%. Yet a good 29% is looking for a change in their life or just for holidays (18%)

How much time will they spend in their home in Italy?

30% will spend 6 months a year in Italy while 21% will spend at least up to 3 months. 22% say that they’ll definitely move.

What tool they use

Nowadays a very high percentage (90%) looks for a house on the Internet. “It is becoming essential to create good property ads which are completed with photo and info and that clearly describe the properties.” says Simone Rossi, Gate-away.com Co-founder “Now more than ever people choose houses to visit while at home sitting on their sofa. Then they plan their trip and visits. This is especially true when searching for a property overseas”. Their preferred tool remains the property portal (about 50%) where they can find a wide range of properties all in one place and contact the advertiser directly.

Start here if you’d like to advertise online and internationally your property(s) for sale in Italy with Gate-away.com

What would keep them from purchasing a home in Italy?

Gate-away.com also asked if there are any variables that could delay the purchase of Italian real estate. The answer of 25% was fairly obvious: bureaucracy is considered as the pain point not only by the Italians as well as excessive taxation (24%). About 16% said they have already decided to buy in Italy no matter what.

This is so true that 71% of them are only considering Italy as their second home overseas compared to other ‘similar’ countries such as Spain, Portugal or France while in the pre-Covid period it was 55%.

Property requests in 2022 for Italy property

Analysing the requests that Gate-away.com has received from January till November 2022 for properties for sale in Italy from international house hunters, the portal registered an increase of 131,39% compared to same period in 2019 which was the year before the COVID-19 pandemic with Tuscany as the most requested regions (+238.94%) followed by Lombardy ( +173.41%), Liguria ( +108.19%) and Puglia (+76.34%).

Lake Como has been the most sought-after area Lake Como: 7.32% (+295.08%). Salento (+144.51%) in Puglia and Lunigiana area (+220.11%) in Tuscany have been respectively in second and third place.

See Gate-away.com annual report for 2022 for all the details about what and where they are looking for.