Italy’s revenue agency published its official property values for the first half of 2026 on 16 October, and the headline is how little moved. Of the 21,064 zones that can be compared with the previous six months, 14,615 of them, nearly seven in ten, carry exactly the same figure as they did then. Just over a fifth went up, and fewer than one in ten went down.
For a buyer from abroad, or for the agent pricing a flat for one, that matters more than a national average does. These are the Agenzia delle Entrate’s own numbers, they’re free to read zone by zone, and they’re the figures Italian valuers and estate companies work from. What follows is what the release says about Italy, where values actually moved, and how to use the band before an offer goes in.
What Italy’s Valuation Office Published on 16 October
The Osservatorio del Mercato Immobiliare, the OMI, sits inside the Agenzia delle Entrate, and it publishes a range of values in euros per square metre for every zone of every Italian municipality. The release on 16 October covers January to June 2026 and, by the agency’s own account, spans 7,888 municipalities divided into 26,983 OMI zones, with a minimum and a maximum for each type of building and each state of repair.
Two things about the data are worth saying before any figure. Each range is built from prices in sales that were actually registered, not from asking prices on a portal, and they describe the ordinary home in a zone rather than one particular flat. Valuing a single property, the agency says, still needs a technician to look at it. What the ranges are good for is the first question every buyer asks: is this flat priced in line with the street it stands on?
Where Italian Property Prices Moved in Six Months
Nationally the movement was small. A zone-by-zone comparison of the two halves by MiRED, which tracks the OMI series, finds 4,552 zones up, or 21.6%, 1,897 down, or 9%, and 14,615 unchanged across the 21,064 zones present in both. Across the country the average zone moved 0.4%, and among those that rose the typical increase was 3.2%.
That national figure hides a wider regional spread. Trentino-Alto Adige led with an average of 2.2%, Puglia had the largest share of rising zones at 43.7%, and Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna both averaged 1%. At the other end Sardinia fell 2.4% and Piedmont 0.8%, and in Sicily, Basilicata and Molise more zones fell than rose. That gap is the point for anyone buying outside a capital city, because the country is not one property market and the province is the right yardstick.
| Region | Zones compared | Rising | Falling | Average change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trentino-Alto Adige | 812 | 189 | 5 | +2.2% |
| Puglia | 741 | 324 | 65 | +1.3% |
| Lombardy | 3,006 | 871 | 94 | +1.1% |
| Veneto | 1,799 | 300 | 49 | +1.0% |
| Emilia-Romagna | 1,300 | 482 | 99 | +1.0% |
| Piedmont | 2,442 | 418 | 463 | -0.8% |
| Sardinia | 685 | 106 | 102 | -2.4% |
| Italy | 21,064 | 4,552 | 1,897 | +0.4% |
Milan, Trieste and the Cities Where Values Rose
Among the 110 province capitals, 66 held their typical zone flat, 41 rose and only three fell, Vercelli, Pistoia and Urbino. Milan’s typical zone rose 2.4% in six months and 20.1% since the first half of 2023, with 26 of its 42 zones up. Brera stays the city’s dearest at 11,150 euros per square metre, the fifth most expensive zone in Italy behind two in Portofino and two in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Cortina’s central B1 zone climbed from 10,500 to 11,500 euros per square metre in one half year. Trieste posted the strongest typical zone of any capital, up 6.3%, and sits 31.6% above its 2023 level, with Lecco, Florence and Verona behind it at 5.4%, 5.2% and 5.1%. Against that, the typical zone in Naples, Genoa, Venice, Palermo and Bari didn’t move at all, and Genoa is exactly where it stood in 2023.
What the Official Range Means for a Buyer
Its practical use is narrow and specific. Pick a zone, read the minimum and the maximum for ordinary homes in normal condition, and you have the band that Italian valuers and lenders recognise. A price above the top of the band isn’t automatically wrong, but it becomes a price that has to be justified by the flat itself, and the same logic runs in reverse when you’re advising a seller.
A band like that describes an ordinary home, so a handful of things push a property above it or below it:
- A top floor with a lift, a restored ceiling or a private terrace sits above the band.
- A ground-floor flat on a dark internal courtyard sits below it.
- Condition carries its own range: the OMI lists a separate line for a home in poor repair and one in excellent repair.
- An energy class at the bottom of the scale now discounts a flat rather than merely describing it.
The agency’s own guidance is that a quotation can’t replace a perizia, the written valuation a technician prepares for one property, so treat the range as the first test rather than the answer. Read the trend beside the level too, because a zone that’s been flat for three semesters is a different proposition from one that has just moved.
| What the range tells you | What it cannot tell you |
|---|---|
| The band for ordinary homes in a zone | What one particular flat is worth |
| Values taken from registered sale prices | What a seller is asking on a portal |
| A minimum and a maximum for each type | Which end of the band fits your client |
| A free update every six months | Whether a bank will lend against the price |
A Short Checklist for Estate Agents in Italy
This release is the cheapest piece of due diligence in the Italian market and it takes about ten minutes. Five steps are worth running before you quote a client a yield, a resale figure or a negotiating range:
- Find the zone, not the town. A single comune can hold dozens of OMI zones, and the gap between two of them is often wider than the gap between two towns.
- Read the line for the right type and condition. An abitazione civile in normal condition is the default, while a villa, a penthouse or a home in poor repair has its own range.
- Compare the asking price with the band, then write down what explains any difference: floor, lift, terrace, view, energy class.
- Check the six-month trend before advising on timing. Seven zones in ten didn’t move, so a client holding out for a fall in a flat zone is holding out for nothing.
- Show the source. The OMI page is public and free, and a client who can check the number himself argues with it less.
One caution for a foreign client: the OMI range is not the cadastral value, and it isn’t the figure the purchase tax is charged on. Keeping those two apart avoids the most common misunderstanding in a first meeting, and it’s worth saying out loud before the notary does.
Why Six Months Is a Short Window to Read
The caution is the interval. OMI values are sticky. MiRED’s zone-by-zone read found zones that sat on the same figure for two or three semesters and then moved in one step, and 5,904 of the 19,433 zones with a full three-year history haven’t changed since 2023. Half a year is long enough to see a direction and too short to call a trend.
What the release does settle is where the market isn’t moving. Genoa and Naples flat, Sardinia and Piedmont easing, Trentino and Puglia climbing: house prices in most of the country are going nowhere, and for a buyer weighing two regions that’s the useful part. The figures are free, they’re updated every six months, and the next release lands in the spring.
The Questions Buyers Ask About Italy’s OMI Values
These are the five that come up first when a foreign client sees the official numbers.
Are OMI values the same as asking prices?
No. The ranges come from prices in sales that were registered, so they lag the market by a few months and they sit below what sellers advertise. A portal price is an ambition; the OMI band is what buyers actually paid in that zone.
How often does the Agenzia delle Entrate publish them?
Twice a year, and the release on 16 October 2026 carries the figures for January to June 2026. Earlier semesters stay online and are readable back to 2006, which is what makes a trend comparison possible at all.
Does the range decide the tax I pay on a purchase?
No. On a resale the registration tax is normally charged on the cadastral value under the prezzo-valore rule, and the OMI band plays no part in that calculation. Keep the two apart: one is a market reference, the other is a tax base.
Can I use the range to negotiate?
Yes, and it’s the strongest thing a buyer can put on the table, because it’s the seller’s own tax agency publishing it. Come with the zone, the type and the condition, and ask what justifies the gap.
Where do I read the figures for one zone?
On the agency’s OMI pages, free and without registration, either by searching for the municipality or by clicking the zone on the Geopoi map. There’s a mobile app too, and the same data sits behind both.
