The pandemic has rekindled the search for a second home to spend holidays, bank holidays and – this is the turning point – periods of smart working. Liguria has found a front row seat in this phenomenon, dusting off a trend that characterized the 1980s of the last century. Who is buying on the Riviera? Families from the North West, mainly from Piedmont and Lombardy, but also from Switzerland. The market is already transforming this change of habits into numbers and rewards those places capable of combining accessibility and quality of life.
On the other hand, this is the tendency, those who buy do not do it to make an income from the good, but to enjoy it.
And for this, as certified by Omi – the Italian real estate observatory – on the Ligurian Riviera, real estate prices exceed the national average value and attract a very specific customer between 40 and 60 years old: if he is Italian he prefers suggestive places very close to the sea, with housing that is not large and equipped with outdoor spaces; if you are a foreigner (Swiss, German, Dutch, French, Eastern European, which together represent less than 5% of buyers), opt for secluded or hilly locations, with parking space.
In all cases, the sale follows several inspections and is linked to the presence of excellent internet connections. The request is for refurbished and immediately available properties, in the case also already furnished. In the Tigullio the search for luxury prevails, it is no coincidence that the most expensive area in Italy in which to buy a house by the sea is between Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure (average values of 5,200 euros / sqm). But it is in the Cinque Terre that in the pandemic period there was an 8% increase in the value of second homes (average values around 4700 euros).
According to the Tecnocasa Studies Office, however, the area of the immediate west of Genoa is also growing, thanks to the interest of the Lombard and Piedmontese who alternate work in presence and remotely. In the extreme west, the market is instead supported by the French, even if new families from northern Italy are returning to the Sanremo area.
And it is precisely on the Riviera di Ponente that the return to the Eighties can be seen first hand, with the reopening of houses even in spring and autumn by those who manage to reach the northern capitals within a day.