Italy and especially Lombardy, in which we are located, has suffered the most serious losses from the coronavirus.
Lake Como was little affected in the first wave of the pandemic, and slightly more in the second, but this is because the population of the cities on the lake is small, from 500 to 3-4,000 people.
This year we experienced several stay-at-home oderes, the first, the longest and completely limiting any movement was in the spring, lasted 2 months, was removed in mid-May and the second began in November, and then Italy changed its approach to closure, focusing on infection rates, and dividing the country into zones of different colors.
The active months of the showing of the houses for sale were from June to October.
Were there any real estate buyers on Lake Como in 2020?
The Lake Como market, being a second home market, has always been more active during the summer season. And this season was no exception, we had both tourists and buyers.
Of course, this year we did not see those clients who needed to fly in. These are residents of Russia, America, and the Middle East.
The most active buyers were our neighbors from Northern Europe. Their main motivation was that in order to go on vacation, they no longer wanted to get on a plane, but wanted to get into their car and arrive at their second home in the lake area in a few hours. Italians themselves, mainly residents of Milan, also returned to buy second homes.
There were many inquiries from those expecting a strong fall in prices for the real estate, but such a fall did not happen, as I mentioned before.
Why the real estate market on lake Como hasn't been heading for a fall?
Lake Como - second home real estate market. This means that buyers who entered the market were not the segment of buyers most affected by the crisis (young families in need of the mortgage loans or low-paid employees who might quickly lose their jobs)
Our clients are wealthy people (entrepreneurs, high-paid professionals, doctors, managers of multinational companies, etc.) with high incomes who invest in real estate around the world. The transaction cycles have always been long, since this is a vacation property, people first come and explore the area, then come again to conduct a thoughtful search, and then proceed directly to the selection of the property and negotiations. Real estate investments in places like Como - in the long term - are less affected by financial crises and continue to be attractive to investors.
In recent years there has been a drop in prices for some real estate properties, but this mainly concerned real estate with the worst characteristics (not enough high-quality finishing materials, not enough lake view). All properties with exceptional characteristics continued to rise in value or keep their value.
What happened during this year that some sellers removed real estate for sale in order to wait for better times, or even motivating that in the current situation they do not know where to invest their money and prefer to keep their house or apartment.
The luxury property market was booming.
Several luxury villas have been sold, such as the Villa Savoia in Moltrasio, which have been on the market for years. Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni has been looking for a home on Lake Como since summer. At first, the press wrote that she had chosen Villa Barzaghi in Bellagio, but these rumors were not confirmed.
Of the mega stars, this season Robbie Williams was vacationing at the Orlando Villa in Bellagio, which is now rumored to have sold for 40 million to an American buyer.
Trends in the real estate market on Lake Como in 2020
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The forecast for a collapse in sell prices of the property on lake Como was not confirmed.
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No, the clients don’t start to buy the real estate just after seeing the video tours, as was predicted by some analytics, although this tool has become more common for Italian real estate agents.
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A significant growth in the signing of purchase and sale transactions with the help of special power of attorney and not in presence and with payments made through a notary escrow account.
Best Como Immobiliare is a family-owned boutique real estate agency. We are local agents, and we support our customers during and after their purchase. If you have any questions about how to buy or sell real estate on Lake Como, please write to me also through WhatsApp or telegram +393664476630, Hanna Fitsner.
