A week ends marked by increases for stocks in the real estate sector, listed on Piazza Affari, with investors’ attention focused on central banks.
The minutes of ECB show that at the monetary policy meeting of 11-12 December 2024, in Frankfurt, some members of the Governing Council supported the option of a 50 basis point rate cut and indicated that they would prefer to see greater consideration given to the possibility of a cut of this magnitude. The experts look at the meeting of the Federal Reserve scheduled for the end of January. From the Beige Book of the American central bank, the report on the state of the US economy which will form the basis for the next monetary policy decisions, found that residential real estate activity remained unchanged overall, as high mortgage rates continued to slow down demand . Among the other central banks under the spotlight of investors, there is also the Bank of Japan which will meet next week: expectations are for a probable increase in interest rates.
The performance of the sector on the stock exchange
The real estate sector experienced a positive week in the Milanese market, with the FTSE Italia All Share Real Estate index bringing home an increase of approximately 1.2%. Same trend for the sector, at a European level, which shows an increase in the Stoxx 600 Real Estate index of 1.5%.
Real estate securities listed in Milan
Among the real estate companies listed on Piazza Affari, Abitare IN is the protagonist with an increase of over 4 percentage points. IGD also did well, earning around 3%. On the downside, Risanamento and Brioschi are positioned, with drops of 9% and 6% respectively. Gabetti, Aedes and Next RE slipped by 1%.
Macroeconomic data
Mortgage applications in the United States are on the rise. In the week to January 10, the index measuring the volume of applications for mortgage loan recorded an increase of 33.3%, after the -3.7% of the previous week. According to what was announced by the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA), rates on 30-year mortgages increased to 7.09% from the previous 6.99%. Surprisingly, confidence in the US real estate sector increases, summarized byNAHB index. The indicator, developed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), represents a summary of builders’ sales expectations in the present and over the next six months.
Sector studies
The Group’s Research Office Tecnocasa analyzed the sales carried out through affiliated agencies in the first half of 2024. The study finds that in 68.5% of cases the sales were carried out by families (couples and couples with children), while 31.5% of buyers were single. Compared to 2023, there is an increase in the percentage of sales by families.
Furthermore, the in-depth analysis of the retail market, carried out by the Real Estate team of PwC in collaboration with the Research Office of PwC Italia, noted that in 2024, investment volumes in the retail real estate market grew by 205%, reaching 2.2 billion euros.
