Property valuation in Italy

How to evaluate the cost of real estate in Italy? How much do homes, buildings, commercial properties sell for? What elements influence real estate market prices? And, more importantly, where can foreign investors, entrepreneurs and companies obtain straightforward, dependable information on current Italian real estate market costs?

As anywhere in the world the first and preeminent factor that impacts on property costs in Italy is location. The price of a real estate asset largely depends on the region, or area, where it is located, differ greatly between city-based properties and countryside, seaside and mountainside ones, and even from city to city.

In general, property costs are definitely higher in the larger, and most renowned, Italian cities than in the country’s towns. The market flows within the bigger cities is in fact more discretionary and adaptable. Renting a house out tends to be easier, and not necessarily costly. Plus, the facilities, job opportunities and overall lifestyle advantages make for higher  housing costs. In a nutshell: real estate located in the greater Italian cities is generally more expensive than elsewhere, and, as things stand now, Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Turin offer the priciest options.

Examples of these set categories are “habitation”, “office”, “shop” and so on. Provided that, in certain cases, Italian law allows owners to change the designated use of a property, foreign buyers need to be well aware that properties classified as “civil habitations” are always higher-priced.

So, how are real estate assets actually classified in Italy? By groups, where each group defines a different “type” of property, as you may see in detail in the list following below.

Classification of properties in Italy

Group A

A / 1: stately homes. The difference between properties comprised in the A/1 cadastral category and residential homes is determined by their location (in prestigious areas), and the high degree of finishing

A / 2: civil dwellings. These are residential properties, where the vast majority of the population lives

A / 3: economic housing. Housing units built with low cost materials and finishes. They have a lower cadastral income, as well as a lower purchase price than homes that fall within class A / 2

A / 4: popular housing. Even lower level than economic properties, both in terms of finishing and construction features. No A/4 type houses are built in Italy nowadays. 

A / 5: ultra-popular housing. The land registry gives the definition of “realities outside the minimum indispensable standards”. Through the note from the Ministry of Finance dated 4 May 1994 (C1 / 1022/94), classes A / 5 and A / 6 have been canceled

A / 6: rural dwellings. Properties for agricultural activities (suppressed by the decree of the Ministry of Finance together with class A / 5)

A / 7: houses in small villas. Buildings corresponding to civilian homes but with the addition of outdoor areas for exclusive use

A / 8: houses in villas. Properties with finishes and construction features superior to the ordinary, a very large surface area of ​​the main areas and presence of park and / or garden

A / 9: castles, palaces of outstanding historical or artistic merit. These buildings are characterized by a distribution of volumes and internal spaces that is different from all the other properties classified in the land registry

A / 10: studios and private offices. Housing units intended for professional activities. These include insurance agencies, analysis laboratories and those used by dental technicians

A / 11: accommodation and houses typical of the places. The classic example of properties classified with category A / 11 is represented by the high altitude hut, but there are also trulli and the mountain huts themselves.

Group B

B / 1: colleges, orphanages, convents, seminaries, shelters, hospices, barracks. The cadastral category B / 1 includes all those non-profit structures used for assistance for the elderly (hospices), for the education of minors (colleges, orphanages), for the spiritual preparation of young seminarians (seminaries), for the hospitality of the community of a mendicant order (convents), housing and the activity of the armed forces (barracks)

B / 2: non-profit hospitals and nursing homes. They are public hospitalization and care facilities, therefore non-profit

B / 3: reformers and prisons. The cadastral class B / 3 includes prisons for adults and minors

B / 4: public offices. By public offices we mean the INPS offices, the offices of the Revenue Agency and the territorial offices of the Chamber of Commerce

B / 5: scientific laboratories and schools. They are buildings built to host activities such as scientific research and education.

B / 6: academies, galleries, museums, art galleries, libraries (provided that they are not inside prestigious buildings and castles belonging to category A / 9). All the aforementioned non-profit cultural venues fall into the cadastral category B / 6

B / 7: oratories and chapels not intended for public worship. Buildings built to practice religion (not in public)

B / 8: underground warehouses for food storage. All warehouses arranged at a lower level than the ground floor whose function is to collect stocks

Group C

C / 1: commercial premises. The properties identified by the cadastral category C / 1 deal with the sale of products, such as shops and shops

C / 2: storage rooms and warehouses. Structures used as evacuation rooms, storage of goods and attics

C / 3: workshops for arts and crafts. Unlike commercial premises, buildings of cadastral class C / 3 are not intended for the sale of products, but for their creation or transformation by the craftsmen

C / 4: premises and buildings for non-profit sporting establishments. All private facilities where you train or where a sporting event is staged

C / 5: non-profit healing and bathing water establishments. Like category C / 4, these are private establishments

C / 6: non-profit garages, sheds, stables and stables. Structures such as garages, parking spaces or car boxes, but also stables and stables

C / 7: open or closed canopies. Any structure associated with a gazebo or canopy

Group D

D / 1: Mills. The factories are the factories, the warehouses, where the raw material is processed and transformed into a product

D / 2: for-profit hotels. Hotels, hotels and other accommodation facilities where tourists stay for a fee.

D / 3: halls for shows and concerts, cinemas and theaters for profit. Plants where one or more artists perform in front of a paying audience

D / 4: for-profit hospitals and nursing homes. Private hospitalization and treatment facilities, where medical services are offered for a fee

D / 5: insurance, exchange or credit institutions for profit. The cadastral category D / 5 identifies banks and private insurance companies

D / 6: premises and buildings for profit-making sports establishments. Stadiums, sports halls, swimming pools and all sports facilities where the public has access by paying a ticket

D / 7: buildings built or adapted for the special needs of an industrial activity and not susceptible to different destination without radical transformations. Structures created specifically to carry out a specific activity, such as refueling stations

D / 8: buildings set up or adapted for the special needs of a commercial activity and not susceptible to a different destination without radical transformations. Shopping centers are included in class D / 8

D / 9: suspended or floating buildings secured to fixed points on the ground, private toll bridges. Buildings, constructions that do not have their own land

D / 10: rural buildings. This category includes all the old buildings outside the urban area

Group E

E / 1: stations for air, sea, land and transport services. Airports, ports and railway stations belong to cadastral class E / 1

E / 2: municipal and provincial toll bridges. All public bridges for which each driver is required to pay a fixed fee

E / 3: buildings and constructions for special public needs. Facilities such as kiosks and newsstands that sell newspapers fall into the category

E / 4: closed enclosures for special public needs. The enclosures that delimit an area where, for example, a public grocery market is held

E / 5: buildings constituting fortifications and their dependencies. These buildings are permanently exempt from the payment of the IMU, like all the other structures present in 

E / 6: towers, traffic lights and lighthouses to make the municipal clock for public use. The same applies to the structures of the cadastral category E / 6, permanent exemption from the payment of the IMU

E / 7: buildings intended for the public exercise of worship. In cadastral class E / 7 there are religious buildings such as cathedrals and churches, inside which masses and other religious functions are celebrated

E / 8: buildings and buildings in cemeteries, excluding sepulchres, columbarias and family tombs. Structures for which the exemption from the single municipal tax applies

E / 9: special purpose buildings not included in the previous categories of group E.