½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

.......does this mean you're looking to buy as an investment? If this is the case, I'd caution against it; buy because you love the region, the location & the people!

(that's not meant to sound as patronising as it does!)

There was a good thread on this a little while ago [url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=907&highlight=economy[/url] (see, I've now learned to use the SEARCH facility properly!)

Tuscany...It's a great location for Calendar photography apparently,
the main areas to avoid are the Macerata area of Le Marche, and any any beautiful small towns with D'Ete in their name, some very strange English people live there...

Thanks, I do love the region, but figured that if a crash in house prices is predicted, then might be best to wait etc...

The problem is that no one can predict the future with any certainty. I agree that the best thing to do is to buy something that you will enjoy and to take a long term perspective. If Italy drops the euro you are going to lose a third of your moolah...
Casale near Teramo [url]www.angelfire.com/film/casale[/url]

[QUOTE=stefanaccio]If Italy drops the euro you are going to lose a third of your moolah... [/QUOTE]

Hi Stefanaccio

Could you just expand on that a little please?

Thanks

Mike Johnson

I am not an alarmist...do not think this will happen...they are probably just posturing....but....the Northern League has made mention of returing to the lira. If this should happen....house prices (when converted to $ or pounds)....will drop like a cheap pair or calzini.
[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/euro/story/0,11306,1499158,00.html[/url]

That just re-iterates my belief that buying in Italy is for the love of Italy!

Who cares that house prices drop I am in for the long haul!

I cant make my buying decisions on what might happen with the Government, I'd never buy!

[QUOTE=Will Bialey]I do love the region, but figured that if a crash in house prices is predicted, then might be best to wait etc...[/QUOTE]

Don't go confusing a possible "crash" in UK house prices with what might happen in Italy.

Because ½ûÂþÌìÌÃs aren't as obsessed with homeowning, feet on rungs of the property ladder, location, location, location, having ridiculously inflated expectations of what they will sell for but parsimonious inclinations of what they will buy for, etc etc - the ½ûÂþÌìÌà property market isn't so prone to booming and busting as the UK.

I think you would not lose your shirt by betting on a steady though not spectacular, say, single-figure percentage rise in the value of your home each year over, say, a ten-year period.

Hardly a market for speculators - much to the relief, I would guess, of most people on this board.

Mike Johnson

I wouldn't set too much store by the Northern League's anti-euro posturing. Though Berlusconi depends to an extent on coalition support - it would be politically embarrassing, to say the least, for him to boot the euro into touch.

Mind you, it is very hard to find an ½ûÂþÌìÌà with a good word to say about it. If there was a referendum on the euro, rather than Europe, in Italy tomorrow - my guess is it would indeed be thrown out on its ear.

Mike Johnson

[QUOTE=stefanaccio]I am not an alarmist...do not think this will happen...they are probably just posturing....but....the Northern League has made mention of returing to the lira. If this should happen....house prices (when converted to $ or pounds)....will drop like a cheap pair or calzini.
[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/euro/story/0,11306,1499158,00.html[/url][/QUOTE]

Correct me if I'm wrong but is the Northern League not a relatively light-weight, right-wing party whose leader has a position in government because they're propping up Berlusconi's coalition?
Aren't they also against immigration?

I think the final para in that article probably wraps it up....

[I]The European Central Bank's chief economist, Otmar Issing, said that if Italy were to leave the euro zone, it would be committing "economic suicide".[/I]

[QUOTE=Will Bialey]Anyone know where i can fnid any information on this, particularly reguarding Tuscany? Cheers, Will[/QUOTE]
Real estate prices in the country are currently pretty flat and in a few of the bigger cities (the real market) there have even been a few down turns and thats about it.Don't expect a crash in prices since 1976 i remember no down turns in the prices of rural properties in Toscana.As has already been said that does not create a "rosy" scenario for speculation but you should be able to sleep at night...( by the way whatever the Guardian may think there is more chance of me winning the lottery than Italy leaving the Eurozone perhaps their correspondent should try leaving the north occasionally)

Thanks everyone, helpful knowledge.

Having just got back, after talking to friends and agents over there, there was a general consensus that house prices would probably rise gradually (single figure percentages, as mentioned above) over the forseeable future. However, one agent who works for a large company told me that due to an "action" taken by the banks a few years ago, buying a cheap property was made a very attractive investment (boosting the housing market, at least at the lower end). She told me that there had been plans to change this "action" in 2007 (causing it to slow down) but that it had recently been agreed that it would be at least 2012 that this review of the rules will happen.

Obviously I can't verify this, but as I'd already signed a proposto d'aquisto she had little reason to lie/exagerate about it.

Any more info on this would be very much appreciated.
Will

Well this is good news as I do want to sell my home and have had a terrible problem of finding an estate agent in my area to even consider trying to sell my home! I think I might of found one and have talked to them this morning but his answer was he has to come over and see my home before even consider trying to sell it. I was shocked as this does not happen in the USA and now realtor would pass up a selling of a home.

Which area are you in?

Yes if we know where your ½ûÂþÌìÌà property is, someone on the forum may well be able to be of assistance!

[QUOTE=DavidandLinda]Yes if we know where your ½ûÂþÌìÌà property is, someone on the forum may well be able to be of assistance![/QUOTE]

My home is in Calabria in the prov. of Cosenza in a tourist town called Altomonte..Any help would be appriciated.

Hope that someone on the forum will be able to offer you assistance. Unfortunately we are in Lazio so cannot help. Good Luck with the sale anyway.

Regarding tuscany, Derek informs me that Ryan air has just started flying from Dublin to Pisa, and that the Irish are very fond of, and many of them are in a position to buy property abroad. Obviously this could have very good (for those already in the process of buying/own) implications house price wise in Tuscany.