Campaign For A Living Venice

Tourism is affecting leases as well: owners choose to rent day by day. Real estate agents: “Sale prices are returning to pre-Euro levels”

By Mitia Chiarin

20 August 2019

MESTRE. The unstoppable push towards tourist rentals, on the mainland as well, is a problem confronted daily. Those who are looking for a home to live in know something about it. If you choose to rent you need to know that rates are skyrocketing now. A look around the real estate sites is all you need to notice it.

RISING RATES

Here is a sampling of listings on Immobiliare.it: 700 Euro for a one room apartment, 30 sq. meters in via Carducci. 900 a month for a two room, 50 sq. meter in via Forte Margera. In via Torino, an apartment of 125 sq. meters is offered for rent at 1100 Euro per month, but only to students. A four room apartment in via Milano, 100 sq. meters, is found at 1300 Euro per month.

These are expensive rentals, with owners who prefer university students or traveling workers. The rest, if they can, prefer renting to tourists. Or keeping the property closed. If you choose to buy, you have to hope for a bank loan. The real estate market on the mainland is particularly active, but with only some bright spots. There are many sales, but at reduced prices, experts in the sector advise. The great “bull” is over.

THE FIAIP SPEAKS

“You rent to a tourist, perhaps through a specialized agency if you aren’t in a position to directly manage the reception, because you easily regain possession of the residence. There are some who will take even 50 Euro less a month so that they don’t have problems in the future with evicting tenants who don’t pay the rent”, explains Roberto Loschi, regional president of the Federation of Italian Professional Real Estate Agents (Federazione italiana agenti immobiliari professionali, FIAIP). “Otherwise they keep the property closed”.

Loschi continues: “When it comes to homes for sale, today the banks demand very high guarantees to grant a loan. And this year the circle is closing on the ten year crisis, and prices are low. I have been monitoring one property for years: it was sold for 75 million lire in 1999; in 2008 it was resold for 78,000 Euro, practically double with the conversion from lire to Euro. Now it’s back on the market for 35,000 Euro”.

This is good for buyers, but not for sellers. The sector, warns Loschi, needs regulation and guarantees so that rental owners do not have to contend with lengthy disputes and legal expenses in order to retake possession of a residence. “A fixed number for tourist rentals is necessary, and those who rent need assurances, otherwise we have come to anarchy”.

Source: La Nuova Venezia