A 40% decrease in construction of houses in Italy

According to the latest report of  ANCE (Italian Association of private construction contractors) in five years (2008-2012) the construction of new houses has fallen by 40%, while the number of residential transactions has decreased by 30% between 2007 and 2010. In particular in the first 9 months of 2011, the number of residential property transactions has dropped by 3.3% compared to the figures of the previous year.

The whole country was hit by this downturn, recording -2% in regional capitals and -3.9% in provincial capitals. The president of ANCE  commented that the only property tax was applied to houses. The new ICI (local council property tax) entails extremely high multipliers, being therefore a far too punitive measure that will significantly change the investments of Italian families.