Approximately in the first quarter of 2023 56,500 properties were the subject of attempted auctions. Important numbers, but down by 18%, compared to the same period of 2022 (68,926), those detected by the latest “Cherry Brick” observatory, the service that monitors investment opportunities among properties at auction, developed by the startup Fintec Cherry. The total value of the minimum starting offer is equal to approximately 9 billion euros (-22% compared to 11.5 billion in the same period of 2022).
A figure that is partly consistent with what was found by the Cherry Sea observatory on the trend of bankruptcy proceedings in the last quarter of 2022, in relation to the top twenty bankruptcy sections by volume of activity in Italy. In fact, the report shows that in 2022, 6,158 new bankruptcies were opened in the Italian courts, 30% less than those opened in 2021.
Real estate auctions
In line with the first quarter of 2022, the lots subject to auction attempts between January and April of this year mostly refer to residential properties (56%), followed mainly by commercial ones (20 %) and industrial (4%). At the regional level, Lombardy is reconfirmed the territory in which the highest number of auctions was held with 7,477 auctioned properties (-22% on the first four months of 2022), equal to 13% of the lots auctioned throughout the national territory.
Sicily follows with 6,846 auctions and Lazio with 6,116 (both registering a drop of 14%), while Valle d’Aosta remains at the bottom with 137. Compared to the geographical subdivision, 71% of the auctions took place between North-West, South and Central Italy, with the latter two macro areas concentrating 25% each of the lots offered for sale throughout the Peninsula, while 13% and 16% are found respectively in the North-East and in the Islands.
Among the cities, with 1,665 auction attempts (3% of the national total) Rome is confirmed as the first in Italy in the relative ranking, with numbers far higher than those of Naples (second with 469) and to those of Catania (third with 412). Among the provinces, however, the Metropolitan City of Rome (3,744 lots for 7% of the total) is followed by Perugia (1,651) and Catania (1,539).
The courts that handled the largest number of auctions are those of Rome (2,050, equal to almost 4% of the total, in line with the first quarter of 2022), Catania (1,298) Milan (1,282), Bergamo (1,197) and Perugia (1.004). In particular, compared to the first quarter of 2022, the Court of Milan records a drop in public sales of 39%, while Catania settles at -21% and Rome at -2%.
That’s it
As regards the average auction base of sales carried out in the first quarter of 2023, this amounts to 159,000 euros, in line with the last quarter of 2022 and down by 4% compared to the value of the first. Looking at the categories, the average auction base decreased during the period of sports facilities, equal to 475,000 euros, compared to 639,000 in the first quarter of 2022 (-26%).
The average auction value of industrial properties fell to 618,000 thousand euros (-3% compared to the first four months of 2022), such as that of residential properties (128,000 euros, with a decrease of 9% compared to the first quarter of 2022). On the other hand, that of commercial properties increased, equal to 179,000 euros (+4% on the same period of 2022).
At the regional level, Emilia-Romagna takes the place of Lazio among the areas in which lots are located whose average starting price on a national scale was on average higher, equal to around 317,000 euros, up 68% compared to the first four months of 2022. Followed by Lazio (about 218,000 euros, -21%), Trentino-Alto Adige (214,000, stable value), Tuscany (211,000 euros, +8%) and Sardinia (198,000 euros, -13%). The rear lights are Valle d’Aosta and Molise (103,000 euros).
On the other hand, analyzing the value of the starting sum at the regional level, Lazio settles on a total of around 1.3 billion euros (-32% on the beginning of 2022) followed by Lombardy with 1.2 billion (- 18%) and Emilia-Romagna with 1 billion (+40%), while at the provincial level the Metropolitan City of Rome it comes first with a value of 983.00 euros (declining however by -39%), followed with a great gap by Perugia and Sassari with 269,000 and 254,000 euros respectively.
New auctions published
Looking at the data as a whole, it emerges that between 1 January and 30 April 2023 new auction notices were published on the Public Sales Portal for just over 58,000 lots, down 20% compared the number of publications surveyed in the first quarter of 2022. In detail, 55% refers to properties for residential use, 19% for commercial use and only 4% for industrial use.
13% of the total is located in Lombardy (for a total of 7,758 new notices), 12% in Sicily (6,930) and 10% in Lazio (5,815), while at the territorial level the greatest concentration it is in Central Italy (26%), followed by the North West and South (23%), the Islands (17%) and the North East (12%). Among the cities, however, Rome remains the first in Italy for the number of auctions surveyed (1,491, -6% over the first four months of 2022), followed by Catania (450), Naples (391) and Perugia (369).
At the provincial level, the Metropolitan City of Rome leads the ranking with 3,756 auctions published (equal to 6% of the national total), followed by the Perugia area and the Catania area (respectively with 1,818 and 1,561). Finally, among the auction methods, the “telematic asynchronous” and “mixed synchronous” (respectively in 33% of cases) are preferred to the “at the seller” (28%) or “telematic synchronous” (6%).