How international investors perceive the Italian real estate market

Those who look at the Italian real estate market from the outside see a country that differs from the one insiders often describe. I tried to bring order to that perception starting from a simple question I asked colleagues from the international eXp network, present in 24 countries across 5 continents: what really attracts a foreign investor to Italy?

What actually attracts

In the top two spots, predictably, sit the beauty of the landscape and the cultural heritage, followed by quality of life. Less obvious is the weight of strategic location: Italy counts 126 airports, 30% of them international, and a tax framework that, for certain buyer profiles, is genuinely favourable. Purchase drivers remain largely tied to holidays, permanent relocation, retirement and rental yield — with one telling data point: half of the respondents consider the Italian market undervalued relative to its real worth.

The real perceived obstacle is not price, but bureaucracy: most respondents see buying a home in Italy as legally and administratively complex. This is where the role of an experienced real estate advisor stops being an accessory service and becomes the condition that makes the transaction feasible at all.

Where wealth lives, and where it moves

I cross-referenced public research (InterNations, Fortune, Wealth-X) to understand where high-net-worth populations concentrate. Milan alone counts more than 1,250 second homes held by individuals with net worth above USD 30 million — a signal that explains why so many international luxury agencies have entered the Italian market over the past five or six years.

Globally we are looking at nearly 400,000 individuals with net worth above USD 30 million, and about 35 million between USD 1 and 30 million. Only 10% of this population is under 50: wealth today is largely in the hands of a mature generation, with direct implications for what they look for in a property and how they plan intergenerational transfer.

Nomadic capitalism

One phenomenon we are directly observing is what some research defines as "nomadic capitalism": flows of wealth relocating in response to geopolitical instability and tensions between economic blocs. These movements follow logics of financial planning, lifestyle and immigration strategy — Italy, thanks to the favourable tax measures introduced in 2016, has intercepted part of them, with a stronger effect on the largest fortunes than on overall expected volume.

Three directions for the years ahead

Looking at the next ten years — between demographic change, deglobalisation, artificial intelligence applied to work, the energy transition and the servitisation of consumption — I see three concrete areas of opportunity for the Italian market:

1. Digital nomadism: those who work from anywhere with a laptop increasingly look for flexible housing solutions, often combined with investment and yield logics.

2. Recovery of the existing stock: Italy has around 9.5 million unused or refurbishment-ready properties — a reserve that, if not absorbed by domestic demand, can intercept international demand.

3. Relocation of the over-55s: a population no longer looking for the same square metres as before, but for solutions closer to services or to their children, with significant potential for wealth transfer.

Three themes on which, every day, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done by anyone operating in this sector with an international perspective.