The Economist newspaper in March carried out a study of the property markets in Europe and calculated what SHOULD be the value of property in each country based upon what percentage rental return was on offer…….and then they compared them to actual prices.

The ‘rental income achievable’ method is a common professional one to take a snapshot ‘value’ of a property.  For instance a property that could achieve a rental income of £9,000 that cost £100,000 would  have a gross (before costs) percentage rental return income figure of 9% – all quite simple.

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Irrespective of the fact that Italian property prices dropped very little at all in the recent turbulent economic times –  and this can be fully accredited to   Italian banks having looked at and having taken into account the actual ‘affordability’ for buyers prior to making lending offers – the Economist study still found that property in Italy was coming in as only the 3rd least ‘overvalued’ in Europe – the top spot going to Germany and the second to Switzerland.  German property prices will not be rising anytime soon in any sort of significant way due to high levels of unemployment and the country having embraced a property ‘rental’ culture rather than a ‘buying’ one.  Love it or hate it that fact  coupled with many regulations and much bureaucracy also present in the country means that prices will continue to go ‘nowhere fast’ in Germany.

The figures show Italy only ‘overvalued’ by 8% but with France showing as being overvalued by 48% still and Spain by 43%.

This report and these figures are great news for buyers of property in Italy – however they are even better news for buyers of property in Calabria.

Calabria has just been highlighted as the only region of Italy not to see any fall in average prices….and it is expected to see very significant growth of up to 15% per year over the next 10 years.

This is due to the huge ongoing investment in the area, it’s increasing accessibility -  both airports are due to take more International flights from next year, currently Reggio Calabria takes none – and last but by no means least the areas beauty and many attractions to new tourists.

Property prices in this part of the country will play catch up with the rest of Italy for some years to come and so make it an ideal property investment location.