In 2018, according to data from Gate-away.com, over a million and a half foreigners searched for a home in Italy. Tuscany is the most popular region to buy property for ex-pats, followed by Puglia and Lombardy.
The report, compiled by the web portal specialising in the sale of properties to foreign citizens in Italy, shows an increase in property purchases by expats of 8.4% compared with 2017, with Tuscany being the top place in Italy for them to buy homes. After the top three, the next most popular destinations are the regions of Liguria and Abruzzo (the latter having registered a 28% rise in the number of sales and going from seventh to fifth place). After these come Sardinia, Sicily, Piedmont, Umbria and Calabria which, with +45.2%, enters the top ten for the first time.
The average value of the properties that people search for on Gate-away.com is 352,456 euro, with an increase in the demand of the price ranges up to 100 thousand euro (+16.6%) and from 100 thousand to 250 thousand (+14.9%). The typical profile of the ex-patriate looking for a home in Italy is someone between the ages of 55 and 64 with a high level of education who wants a detached house that is ready to move into straight away.
As regards geographical origin of expat buyers in 2018, research from 150 countries was monitored and the most significant increases were recorded in house hunters from the United States (+30.5%) in first place and the United Kingdom in second place with an increase of 18.3%. In third place is Germany, followed by France, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Canada.
From the original Italian article: Aumentano gli stranieri che cercano casa in Italia, la Toscana resta regina (Il sole 24 ore)
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