The paper reviews the supply of different mortgage instruments to Italian households by means of data obtained from a survey conducted in 2007 by the Bank of Italy over more than 300 banks. The results document significant innovations in housing finance in the last five years: a greater variety...

Italian Abstract: La filiera del settore immobiliare contribuisce per oltre un quinto al prodotto interno lordo; la sua rilevanza per il sistema bancario è ancora più elevata: il credito concesso alle imprese del comparto supera il 34 per cento dei finanziamenti al settore privato. La...

Since the early part of 2010 tensions in the sovereign debt markets of some euro-area countries have progressively distorted monetary and credit conditions, hindering the ECB monetary policy transmission mechanism and raising the cost of loans to non-financial corporations and households. This...

In this paper we focus on tenant rents in Italy and compare results from several methods for the rent dynamic estimation. We first document the sources of data available and then introduce quality-adjusted techniques, which enable us to separate the price variation due to qualitative changes in...

We present a new indicator of house prices in Italy, with more extensive geographical and time coverage. The new indicator now makes it possible to analyze medium- and long-term trends with satisfactory representation of the Italian housing market. It also allows for timely updating, for prompt...

During the last two decades, house prices in Italy have increased dramatically in real terms, particularly in large towns and cities; the rise in rents has been even more marked. This paper analyses home affordability for households, considering both the rent and the property markets. In...

This paper discusses the limitations of the price-income ratio, the price-rent ratio, and of affordability measures as indicators of housing market conditions. For the purpose of assessing whether house prices are misaligned, the most sensible approach is to calculate the user cost of ownership...

We quantify the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on housing demand of Italian households by exploiting new information on their search activity on the market. The data comes from two unique datasets: the Italian Housing Market Survey, conducted quarterly on a large sample of real estate agents,...

The national pattern of house price dynamics masks considerable heterogeneity across local areas and markets; disparities are even higher looking at house price levels. In this paper we describe these structural differences across Italy, with particular focus on the role of metropolitan areas...

Boom-and-bust cycles in the housing market pose a threat to macroeconomic and financial stability, thus calling for a timely assessment of imbalances. This work sheds light on the drivers of house price dynamics in some euro area economies, investigating whether the increases in house prices...