Italian property sales have declined, but the prices have remained stable

1.35 million property transactions have been registered in the country throughout 2009 which is 11.3% less than a year earlier. The reduction in the number of transactions has had almost no effect on price dynamics.

By the end of the year, the rate of decline in Italian property sales has slowed down : if in Q1 sales have dropped by 18.6%, than in Q4 the level of a decline has amounted to 4%, Italy Magazine reports, citing the data provided by the Land Department.

The downturn has been less pronounced in the segment of residential property than on the market in general. In Northern and Southern Italy, residential property sales have decreased by 6.4% and 0.7% respectively, that said, the figure has climbed up by 1.4% in the central regions of the country.

There is also a slowdown in decline of mortgage lending: the number of home purchases involving a mortgage has plummeted by 27% over 2008, while decreasing only by 10.8% in 2009. This trend is due to the significant lowering of mortgage interest rates.

One of the most important characteristics of the market is stable high prices for Italian property. They were only 0.7% lower Ii the second half of 2009, than in the same period of 2008. Experts believe that one of the reasons behind falling sales is a gap between the price expectations of sellers and property buyers.