Because it is still a business to invest in prestigious real estate

Starting from 2020, despite the pandemic, the consequent slowdown of the economy, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which then culminated in the energy and inflation crises, the prestigious residential market has been recording continuous growth. That's because the super-rich are far from declining—in fact, their numbers are on the rise. According to Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2022, High Net Worth Individuals (or HNWIs), i.e. those with a net worth equal to or greater than $1 million (excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumer goods and durable) are on the rise. In fact, from 2020 to 2021 their number grew by +7.8% and they came to hold 8% of global wealth, for a total of about 86 trillion dollars. The countries that between 2020 and 2021 saw the greatest growth in HNWI assets are distributed in North America (+13.8%), Europe (+7.5%) and the Middle East (+6.3%) . In the same period, in Italy, this population grew by +7%, reaching around 322,000 people. In 2022, the rate hike by the Central Banks (USA and EU) prompted HNWIs to expand their share of alternative investments and real estate assets, allocating on average around 15% of their assets to real estate each year. Although this percentage has not changed, the increase in the number of HNWIs has meant that the number of residential sales relating to properties with a value equal to or greater than one million euros has increased, also in Italy.
According to an analysis by specialists, who examined a sample of transactions that took place in Italy between 2021 and 2022 concerning prestigious properties, it can be seen that most of the sales took place in Lombardy (46%), followed by from Lazio (15%), from Veneto (9%), from Tuscany (6%) and from Liguria (5%). By dividing the category of prestigious properties into three sub-categories ordered by value (luxury: between 1 and 2.4 million euros, top-luxury: between 2.5 and 9 million euros and top-properties: starting from 10 million euros), it can be seen that luxury property transactions have a trend in line with the traditional residential market (always seeing Lombardy, Lazio, Veneto, Tuscany and Liguria as the top five regions). While for the purchase and sale of top-luxury properties, it should be noted that the first three Regions are unchanged, followed in fourth position by Sardinia and then again by Tuscany. Finally, for the purchase and sale of top-properties, Lombardy is followed by Tuscany, Lazio, Sicily and Veneto.