Buying a house in italy?
Discussion
While on holiday in Tuscany we had a look at some properties. Initially we were just looking around with the intention to buy in the future, hence we hadn't looked into the financial aspects in any detail. However we will be in the position later this year of being able to put down a 50% deposit on a property if we choose. Has anyone bought a second home in Italy and would care to comment on the process? For example is it better to get a UK or Italian mortgage? For information i do not plan to rent it out, and it will be a second home for a number of years; we might move to Italy permanently but it is a few years away.
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Hi,
I'm not really into the real estate market, but living in Italy I hope I can give you some food for tought:
1- Mortgage: at the moment Italian banks don't seem too enthusiastic in lending money, but things may be very different if you have a good income. Interest rates are generally steeper than in other countries I have lived in: as an example I received from my bank an advert for a mortgage over 10 years on a variable rate of 1.95%. Not sure what deal can you make for a second property and being a non resident.
2- Taxes: for a second property you will have to pay the property tax in full (once it was called IMU, then TARI, now it's TASI), the rate depends on the local council and it's calculated on the Land Register value, so I'd suggest you to ask for this before deciding. It's worth noting that this has nothing to do with the actual price you paid for the property.
Then there are the registration fees to be paid when you buy the house, I can't tell you exactly what % of the price you may expect, I'm guessing ~5 to 8 % of the price, but worth checking as I might be completely off the mark -especially for a holiday home-.
HTH
I'm not really into the real estate market, but living in Italy I hope I can give you some food for tought:
1- Mortgage: at the moment Italian banks don't seem too enthusiastic in lending money, but things may be very different if you have a good income. Interest rates are generally steeper than in other countries I have lived in: as an example I received from my bank an advert for a mortgage over 10 years on a variable rate of 1.95%. Not sure what deal can you make for a second property and being a non resident.
2- Taxes: for a second property you will have to pay the property tax in full (once it was called IMU, then TARI, now it's TASI), the rate depends on the local council and it's calculated on the Land Register value, so I'd suggest you to ask for this before deciding. It's worth noting that this has nothing to do with the actual price you paid for the property.
Then there are the registration fees to be paid when you buy the house, I can't tell you exactly what % of the price you may expect, I'm guessing ~5 to 8 % of the price, but worth checking as I might be completely off the mark -especially for a holiday home-.
HTH
Just done that (lake Garda). Morgages are much higer in Italy so I'd go for a UK morgage. I paid about 1% for the notary and 3,5% (plus 22% VAT) for the estate agent.
I really love the Italians, but I found the buying and restoring/building excercise really teadious and exhausting. Good luck to you, PM me if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Felix
I really love the Italians, but I found the buying and restoring/building excercise really teadious and exhausting. Good luck to you, PM me if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Felix
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