For luxury real estate, Italy is confirmed as a key market, always under the lens of foreign investors. This confirmation comes from the Global Luxury Landscape report 2021 by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices - international brokerage network active in Italy through the partnership with Maggi Properties.
Investing in luxury real estate
According to the report, the pandemic has accentuated the attention of investors towards Italy. The requests coming from abroad underline the interest also for more peripheral areas such as, for example, the Colli Piacentini and the lakes area (Como, Garda and Maggiore). This growth does not only involve the residential sector, but also the entire Italian hospitality system, which is increasingly becoming "the place to be", even in a phase of waning pandemic.
Tourism in Italy is now worth more than 10% of GDP and this is also driving real estate investment. In this context, international operators provide a worldwide showcase for the sometimes hidden properties in Italy. More than 10% of hotels managed by chains in Italy operate in the 5/5L star segment and it is no coincidence that 50% belong to foreign groups (Horwath HTL 2020 data).
Luxury hotels in Italy
"Historically in Italy, the hotel offer is concentrated on 3-star properties, which represent over 46% of the almost 33 thousand properties present in the territory," explains Zoran Bacic Senior Partner & Managing Director of Horwath HTL.
"In this scenario, luxury hotels, with 5-star and 5-star L, will grow by at least 25%, in strong contrast to the entire sector. Yet, their weight in the total number of accommodations remains below 2%. The demand for luxury tourism is set to grow, so it is important to take advantage of this strong desire for investment from the international market. Owners need to assess the necessary investments in order to ultimately reap a multiplied value," concludes Marcus Benussi, Managing Partner & General Counsel of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices - MAGGI Properties.
However, the context is challenging: the proposal of accommodation facilities exploits Italy's tourism and landscape potential to attract international clients, but at the same time leaves them disappointed with the new features of the real estate deal. Some elements of the gap: slow and complex bureaucracy, fragmented ownership among different partners/family members, expectations of services and connection with the main tourist centres, new financial and development models. This context creates a distance from the requests of investors, who complain of lengthy negotiations, improvised mediators incapable of guiding them through the architectural constraints of urban planning or Fine Arts, and a bureaucracy with no clear timeframe.
To bring all this value together, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is investing further in Italy through a partnership with Horwath HTL - a world leader in hospitality consultancy. This collaboration aims to meet the needs of investors in the hospitality industry.
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