A real estate market in decisive revival, in sharp contrast to the difficulties experienced in recent months by many sectors. This is the phenomenon intercepted by Coldwell Banker Italy, a real estate network that has 3,100 agencies in 43 countries around the world, of which 74 throughout the Italian territory. The economic crisis therefore seems not to have had such disastrous effects on the housing market which, despite a slight decline in the first quarter recorded during the pandemic, confirms more and more buyers in anticipation of 2021. And this is also confirmed by Istat data on the first quarter of 2020.

“Despite the first initial fears – Roberto Gigio, President and CEO of Coldwell Banker Italy told Fortune Italy – the real estate market has not slowed down its growth; on the contrary: Italians have shown themselves willing to buy a property, with more awareness and different needs ”. A return to the average levels of the last decade (over 8 billion) is expected in 2021, with Milan as the protagonist and in strong recovery. A sprint that of the Lombard capital that makes you think, especially considering how hard it was hit by Covid-19. “Many in Milan had thought that Covid would at least calm the expensive rents – says Roberto Gigio – With fewer people (between smartworking and a drop in tourism) and more empty houses on the market, the result should be a decline in real estate values ​​and, above all, , of rents. It is not happening, and it will not happen (in Milan prices increased by + 15.9%, ed.). Real estate will hold up because in a city that is attractive to ‘brains’ and multinationals like Milan, the house becomes an investment asset “.

Carmelo Gitto, owner of ‘GD Infrastructure’, a large construction company abroad, thinks so too, which has added real estate in Italy to its business, concentrating its efforts in the Milan area. “The city – Gitto tells Fortune Italia – enjoys a highly strategic European commercial position, a metropolis that was in full splendor before Covid and which had to kneel in the face of the pandemic, but which is getting up to start again at full speed. It is no coincidence that in recent years our investments have focused precisely on Milan, which we consider the Italian hub of business “. “Our residential development is clearly improving on the dark weeks we experienced in the post-lockdown and construction sites have restarted. Being able, despite the moment, to manage the business even in the most critical months was strategic for limiting losses and ‘attacking’ the market again “. A result made possible thanks to the help of technology, which allowed the sale of the apartments at a distance, without any difficulty and in total safety: “Thanks to the digitization of the presentation processes, we have registered an increase in interest in our properties – confirms the owner of GD Infrastructure -. Customers who were about to buy a house were thus able to finalize their purchase, thanks to digital renderings and three-dimensional videos of the apartments, a technology that has been very useful for our business continuity “.

Innovation and digitization are therefore the key words of a historical moment like the present one, which thus benefited from useful tools for the functioning of society. One example is smart working, which has forced many workers to stay at home. It is also for this reason that, according to Coldwell, we are saying goodbye to the studios, once very popular in big cities. With the experience of the lockdown, with the bugbear of similar scenarios in the future and thanks to the increasing use of remote work, the demand for homes with the presence of terraces, gardens and condominium green spaces is increasing. And one of the absolute novelties is the increase in requests for houses in the countryside: it happens throughout Italy with an average increase of 29% compared to the pre-Covid period.

“The virus has changed the face of cities: the over 50s, who have learned the lesson of smart working, go to small towns or suburbs, young people repopulate the big cities”, says Roberto Gigio. And those who stay in the metropolis need greener: “Our customers – says Carmelo Gitto – are increasingly attentive to environmental sustainability and the energy efficiency of their homes. For this reason, all our redevelopment projects are based on the full integration of the property with the outdoor spaces, in which the green coexists with the whole context. Following the example of an important residential complex like the ‘Bosco Verticale’, the awareness is growing that you can live surrounded by greenery even in a city like Milan. Not only that, in our buildings we are creating private gardens for each housing unit, with the dual utility of having vegetation and vegetables at Km0. The idea of ​​self-subsisting buildings is emerging more and more, of places that are not just ‘home’ as we have always understood it to date, but places of life in the round, real ‘smart homes’. Covid has certainly accelerated this process; if it is true that every crisis presents opportunities, the ‘green’ one seems to me an unrepeatable opportunity “.

written by Antonio Santamato

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