Flat week for the Italian real estate sector, which performs well below the sector at a European level, despite the comforting signals coming from central banks and the real estate market.
ECB President Christine Lagarde has tried to provide reassurances that the European Central Bank is “well positioned” to deal with the challenges and shocks that will arise. This week the FED instead published its Beige Book which highlighted a picture of weak and uneven growth between the various districts, with three areas reporting a “slight or modest” expansion, five without variations and four recording a “slight weakening”. Meanwhile, Christopher Waller, governor of the Federal Reserve, has supported a further easing of monetary policy (which presupposes a rate cut of 25 basis points) compared to the current approach which “is moderately limiting aggregate demand and economic activity”.
The macro data of the week
Mortgage applications continue to decline in the United States. In the week to 10 October, the index measuring the volume of mortgage loan applications recorded a decrease of 1.8%, after the -4.7% recorded the previous week. The index relating to refinancing requests fell by 1%, while that relating to new applications fell by 2.7%. This was announced by the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA), indicating that rates on thirty-year mortgages fell to 6.42% from the previous 6.43%.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo (HMI) Housing Market Index, builder confidence in the newly constructed single-family home market stood at 37 points in October, up five points from September and the highest level since April. “October’s HMI increase is a positive sign for 2026, as our forecast indicates that single-family home construction starts will gain traction next year,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist at NAHB.
News from the sector
According to research by Idealista, the Lombardy real estate market is changing its skin. If Milan remains the reference center of gravity, the data has shown how the provinces are experiencing a real relaunch. In sales, interest in provincial centers is constantly growing, thanks to the price differential with the capital. In other words, it is as if Lombardy was transforming into a “widespread metropolitan city”, with increasingly attractive and competitive hubs.
A focus by Aspesi instead revealed that the Roman real estate market shows signs of price growth in the third quarter of 2025, both in the sales and rental sectors. In the time frame in question, the costs of homes for sale rose by 7.3% compared to the same period in 2024, reaching an average of 3,641 euros/m2, while rental costs recorded an even more significant increase (+11.2%), exceeding 18 euros/m2 on average.
DeA Capital Real Estate SGR has announced the launch of its first real estate credit Alternative Investment Fund (FIA), entirely dedicated to international institutional investors. Finally, Ginvest, a group specialized in the design, development, sale and rental of real estate, in the management of income properties and in the energy requalification of buildings, has approved the half-yearly financial report as of 30 June 2025, confirming a positive performance.
The performance of the sector on the stock exchange
The real estate sector on the stock market experienced a flat week, unlike the pan-European Stoxx 600 Real Estate index, which instead recorded appreciable changes (+2.4% on a weekly basis). The Italian FTSE Italia All Share Real Estate index essentially stabilized at last week’s levels (-0.09%), still performing better than the FTSE MIB market index which recorded a drop of 1%.
Among the real estate companies listed on Piazza Affari, the best performance was that of IGD (+0.86%), the only one to close in positive territory. The worst are Gabetti (-4.27%) and AbitareIn (-3.24%). Risanamento (-2.68%) and Brioschi (-2.05%) also fell sharply. Fractional drops instead for NextRe (-0.66%) and Aedes (-0.48%).
