House prices in Italy dropped 4.2%
in 2014 with respect to 2013, Istat said on Friday.
The national statistics agency added that prices were down
both for existing properties (5%) and for newly built homes
(2.2%).
House prices were also down 5.7% in 2013 with respect to
the previous year.
The Italian property market has been badly hit by the
economic crisis and prices have fallen 11.5% since 2010,
according to Istat.
Giorgio Spaziani, the president of building federation
Confedilizia, blamed rising property taxes for contributing to
the market's troubles.
"It's urgent and necessary to stop this string of bad news
for the real-estate sector and for the whole economy," said
Spaziani.
"The only way to do that is the give a strong signal that
the trend on property taxes, which have almost trebled with
respect to 2011, is being reversed".
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