The sector is recovering, but there are problems to be faced. Dal Magro: “Businesses cannot work below cost”
BELLUNO. The real estate market is buzzing right now. There is a desire for home at the foot of the Dolomites. The Superbonus has encouraged it, but the desire to change one’s home must clash with new problems: there are many construction sites that, in recent times, have been stopping, or slow down, because the costs of raw materials make the estimates of the businesses. And also because the Municipalities are flooded with work and therefore delay the authorization process.
Let’s take stock with Giuliano Dal Magro, real estate agent and provincial president of the trade association, Fiaip, as well as Veneto vice president of the organization.
RAW MATERIAL COSTS
Wood is one of the most used raw materials in construction in the Belluno area. The price increase, with the pandemic, was 40%. Strong increases in copper and steel prices. Oil costs twice as much as a year ago and the increases are also dragging up those of gas, plastic, insulation or bitumen, the price of which has risen by 16% in recent months. “Today construction companies work below cost and it would therefore be necessary to adopt exceptional, concrete and immediate measures”, observes Dal Magro, relaunching the requests of the various categories, “which can avoid the blocking of dozens of public and private construction sites, also putting works of the Recovery Plan and the interventions of the Superbonus 110% ». Ance, as stated in their press releases, has proposed a mechanism whereby, in the event of an increase in the cost of materials exceeding 8%, the client compensates the manufacturer. If, on the other hand, the opposite happens and prices drop by more than 8%, it is the manufacturer who lowers the cost. The fact is that even in the province, builders have slowed down numerous construction sites, waiting for better times. It is known that not only the materials cost more, but they are not even available. It happens for the same thermal coats, so – in these cases – you risk skipping the Superbonus 110%. For long-booked orders, June deliveries were skipped at the end of July, when that’s okay, otherwise until October. But it is unthinkable that with the arrival of the weather instability of the autumn, some construction company will dare to renew the roof of a building.
PURCHASE
Repeated lockdowns have held back the housing market, but in the past six months it has revived. Especially in the city of Belluno, Feltre and also in an area like the Agordino. In the provincial capital and in the immediate surroundings, the “new” is sold between 1900 and 2 thousand euros per square meter. The “safe used”, that of 20-25 years, between 1300 and 1400 euros; it drops to 1100 euros in the suburbs. A separate discussion, of course, in Cortina, where the World Ski Championships and the Olympics have led to a rise in typical markets, the real estate market in particular. You don’t pay for a square meter of a new apartment, at the foot of the Tofane, less than 10-11 thousand euros per square meter. You can take away the used car in half, around 5 thousand euros. It is enough, however, to move away a few kilometers and in San Vito di Cadore the prices of both new and used vehicles drop. A little further on, in Borca di Cadore, prices are further halved.
HOLIDAY HOUSES
Last year, these days, the onslaught of the Venetians had almost exhausted the availability of holiday home rentals in the highlands. This summer, with all of Italy in the white zone, the tourist diversifies his choice. Apartments are still preferred by family travelers over hotels, but with a double-digit drop in rents, between 10 and 20%. There are 58 thousand second homes in the province of Belluno, one for every four inhabitants. It is calculated, however, that less than 25,000 are accessible: from 7,000 in Cortina to 3,000 in Auronzo, to 2,000 in Val Zoldana. Obviously, the number of holiday homes, immediately usable, is smaller. “Dolomitissime”, the agency where Dal Magro is a partner, alone has 180 for almost 700 beds. “In any case, we encounter significant requests for long rents”, confirms Dal Magro, “especially from professionals who want to spend periods of rest and work with their families in environments free from city stress”.