BOLZANO. «Bolzano is dying. We need 50 hectares. It is not possible to find them all at once, but you have to move. There’s no point in continuing to complain about prices and doing nothing. A new apartment in Bolzano, in a non-prestigious area, costs between 4,500/4,600 and 5 thousand euros per meter and reaches 8 (and more) in certain residential areas. We are beyond the limit and the solution is not renting because the owners prefer students and tourists. The last Puc? From the nineties. The former councilor Toni Serafini had signed it. We’re out of time. And in this scenario, mortgages and materials have increased.”
Fiaip: appeal to politics
The appeal to politics from the South Tyrolean real estate observatory of Fiaip, the Federation of professional real estate agents, is making a strong start. The summary of the provincial president Carlo Perseghin and Alessandra Fusina, delegate, is quickly made: «The 30-year mortgage has become the norm, today we have risen to 40, with rates at 4.5% – 5%. For some new homes some lenders go below 3%. Let’s say that today a thirty-year-old pays up to 70 years. Banks also pay a lot of attention to “non-efficient” houses because they know that European legislation on energy saving, “green houses”, will soon come into effect. And those who do not comply will find themselves facing a further and significant outlay of money. Harsh conditions that discourage young people and workers who leave, leave the city, which is dying.”
Two- and three-room apartments, the most requested
The most requested are the two- and three-room apartments. «We get there with the help of parents, thanks to the liquidation, or to those who sell the four-room apartment, to settle in a smaller one and thus help their children. Bolzano records a decrease of almost 12% compared to the first quarter of 2024 in the number of sales, up to a peak of -20% in Valle Isarco and Venosta. Less is bought and sold but prices in the city recorded an increase of 1.0% with an average price of just over 4,050 euros per meter (commercial). In top tourist places such as Gardena, Badia and the San Candido area, prices reach 14 thousand euros per meter (commercial). «2024 – say Perseghin and Fusina – opened with a trend similar to that of the end of 2023, that is to say with proposals and requests decreasing compared to recent years. The post-pandemic period had highlighted a boom in requests. The market initially “exploded” and then settled down. We are moving towards stabilization.”
Fattor: let’s start from Ponte Adige
Stefano Fattor – invited to the presentation of the data for the first half of 2024 – says that the capital needs three thousand homes in the medium to long term to rebalance the market: «With further densification and the slogan “building on the built” there is no way out. We cannot think of building in the area, we must consume agricultural greenery. At least 50 hectares are needed, obviously not all of them immediately. I think we can start from the apple orchards around Ponte Adige. The capital cannot waste any more time because if all goes well, the work on the 500 flats of the railway area will begin in ten years and those on the houses in place of the Huber barracks in Viale Druso, in seven/eight. Alto Adige has a lot of jobs, not proportionate to the housing offer. Here we continue to hope to arrive but in the end we cannot find the house. Postmen, Sasa drivers, first-time doctors come to mind who don’t come to Bolzano because in Trento houses cost on average 25% less. Without the help of parents, there is no way out. Seventy square meters in Oltrisarco, without any type of initial capital, have a payback time of 76 years. Companies are leaving.”
A more than worrying scenario that should make us reflect.