Negative week for the real estate sector on the stock market in Europe, which was affected by the performance of Vonovia, the largest real estate company in Europe by market capitalization, specialized in the management of residential properties. The German giant announced on Thursday that adjusted pre-tax profit fell 4.1% to 462.2 million euros in the first quarter due to rising financial costs amid the Middle East war. “We are closely monitoring the region and its impacts,” said Chief Financial Officer Philip Grosse. Ten-year financing costs stand at 4.5%, an increase of half a percentage point, while interest rates above 5% or 6% would exceed the real estate company’s expected financing costs, Grosse added.
The performance of the sector on the stock exchange
In general, the real estate sector experienced a negative week at a European level, with the Stoxx 600 Real Estate index recording a decline of 0.7%, lower than that of the Stoxx Europe 600 which finished eighth just above parity.
A good performance was achieved by Italy, where the FTSE Italia All Share Real Estate index showed an upward trend of 2.2% on a weekly basis, just above the FTSE MIB index (+2%).
Real estate securities listed in Milan
Among the real estate companies listed on Piazza Affari, there was a strongly negative week for Gabetti (-10.7%). Also in the red are Abitare In (-1.5%), Brioschi (-1.4%), IGD (-1.3%). Next Re (which is affected by the takeover bid) and Risanamento are flat, just above Aedes parity.
Among the corporate announcements, the first quarter 2026 results of IGD SIIQ stand out, one of the main players in Italy in the retail real estate sector and a company listed on Euronext STAR Milan. It closed the first three months with an Ebitda from core operations of 24.3 million euros, substantially in line, on a like-for-like basis, with the first quarter of last year. The result of overall financial management amounted to -12.5 million euros, an improvement of 5.3 million compared to the first quarter of 2025 (29.8%). The Group closed the quarter with a net profit of 5.7 million euros, up by 4.1 million euros compared to the corresponding quarter of last year. Recurring net profit (FFO) amounted to 11.7 million euros, up 14.7% compared to the first quarter of 2025, mainly due to the reduction in recurring financial charges. The company also confirmed the guidance announced to the market last February 26, which envisages FFO at the end of 2026 of at least 45 million euros.
Eurocommercial Properties, a real estate investment company listed on Euronext Milan with a dual listing, announced that the Group’s retail sales recorded a positive start to the year in 2026, with growth of 4.9% in the first quarter, slightly higher than the +4.5% recorded in the previous twelve months. Nationally, Italy recorded the best performance, with retail sales rising 7.4% in the quarter. The result of direct investments per share is equal to 0.62 euros, demonstrating a solid operating performance. Assuming that there are no significant deteriorations in the macroeconomic and geopolitical context for the rest of the year, Eurocommercial Properties confirms its forecasts for the result of direct investments in 2026, which will be between 2.45 and 2.50 euros per share.
Macroeconomic data
This week interesting data arrived from the United States, where the volume of mortgage loan applications recorded a decline of 4.4% last week, after the -1.6% recorded the previous week; According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA), the fact that rates on thirty-year mortgages rose to 6.45% from the previous 6.37% had an impact. Furthermore, sales of new homes in the United States began to grow again in the month of March (+7.4% to 682 thousand units compared to the previous 583 thousand units and the 652 thousand units expected by the market), according to Census Bureau data.
