Milan, Italy’s financial and fashion hub, is becoming the cutting-edge center of futuristic housing design and development.
New Developments in Milan “Taking City to Another Stage”
Milan, the capital of Italy’s northern Lombardy region and world-wide trend-setter in fashion, design and the arts, is among the country’s most lively and expensive housing markets. Its residential landscape ranges from flats in bohemian enclaves, elegant palazzos, villas and townhomes with hidden gardens.
Even though the pandemic slowed the market, new construction is changing the face of the city. According to Diletta Giorgolo, head of residential with Italy Sotheby’s International Realty, “The new developments are taking the city to another stage…”
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One former industrial area, the Porta Nuova district, has been transformed into one with a solar-powered twin-tower high rise, a mixed-use CityLife redevelopment on an old fairground of the historic city and a twisted 44-story tower designed by the acclaimed Zaha Hadid.
Arianna Giovanni, marketing director with Lionard Luxury Real Estate, said, “The Milan market has been steadily growing, especially since 2016.” Sales during the pandemic continued with video tours and contracts signed via proxy.
Some early 20th-century converted townhomes even have 15-foot ceilings and large glass panels set between beams of wood plank floors on multiple floors that provide “windows” via see-throughfloors that render a heated pool and spa in the basement visible through the ground-floor glass.
Luxury Market Now “Fully Recovered” from Pandemic
Giovanni said, “People now mostly desire properties with some outdoor space.” That includes villas outside the city limits but within commuting distance to the downtown, “self- sufficient country estates,” and in-city apartments and townhouses with terraces.
During Q1 2021, sales exceeded pre-pandemic times within Milan city limits. According to internal data from Sotheby’s, the median price for properties sold so far in 2021 is approximately 2.5M euros ($2.86M) with top sales in the Quadrilatero high-fashion district coming in at 11.5 eros or $13.2M.
Pricing
In the city’s most expensive and historic center, buyers can expect to pay 9,400 euros/square meter or $1,000/square foot, according to Statista.com.
Property prices increased +10% from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020. According to data from the Knight Frank Global Residential Cities Index, a slowing trend is emerging as annual price growth registered in the first half of 2021 came in at +2.6%.
Bullish Forecast
Antonio Zagaroli, managing director with Knight Frank Italia, expects Milan’s housing market to be “…bullish for the next three to four years…” particularly with the 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon. Plans for the Olympic Village to house the athletes are on course to become an eco-friendly mixed-use district that will be transitioned into student and affordable housing after the games so the neighborhood would become self-sustaining.
Tax Perks
Italy’s flat tax of 100,000 euros or $114,459 (instituted in 2016) continues to lure high-net-worth foreigners with annual incomes of more than 250,000 euros or $286,000 who declare Italy as their primary residence. European and Asian buyers have been particularly interested in taking advantage of this “perk.”
Another tax perk was introduced in July 2020 and directed to foreign retirees. This tax bait guarantees a 7% income tax for 10 years on income generated abroad including rental income, annuities, pensions, etc. Giorgola said, “We sold more throughout Italy due to the flat tax.” She expects “many more” sales in 2022 due to this tax.
Giovanni said, “From the Far West to the Far East, we have seen clients coming from the most unexpected regions of the world nowadays…” due to the “very high” quality of life in Milan as everything, the seashore, mountains and lakes, are within two hours of this classical and very-much alive city.
Thanks to The New York Times.
