The President of Confindustria Assoimmobiliare, Davide Albertini Petroni, he stressed, during the public meeting of the 2024 how an increase in the participation of institutional investors in the residential market could help extend its geographical reach, stimulating new real estate initiatives also in cities other than Milan and Rome, currently at the center of the main operations. To encourage the entry of institutional capital into large-scale projects, according to Petroni, it is essential to "eliminate some regulatory and fiscal disincentives" to ensure "more effective economic and financial regulation of the market".
Among the proposed solutions are: the introduction of the option VAT, which would allow investors to deduct the tax paid at the time of purchase; the possibility of classifying rental properties as capital goods, allowing maintenance costs to be deducted; and the application of the flat-rate tax for real estate companies.
“These interventions – he states – would favor a concrete increase in the housing supply, reducing the imbalance between supply and demand and helping to contain the increase in prices, making residential rent more accessible for large segments of the population”.
Petroni he also addressed the issue of urban regeneration, calling for "more courageous and incisive" measures. In this context, he underlined the importance of "certainty of approval times and acquired rights" to ensure greater confidence in investors. He then expressed concern about possible changes to the Consolidated Law on Building, such as the introduction of a mandatory urban plan for consolidated urban areas, considering them contrary to the principles of speed and efficiency supported by Confindustria Assoimmobiliare.
Furthermore, he focused on the market of listed companies, considered a “significant gateway” for institutional capital, both domestic and foreign, and for the domestic retail market. He highlighted the need to strengthen listed instruments to mobilize Italian private savings, with the aim of promoting indirect real estate investments compared to direct ones. Petroni recalled that the Italian listed real estate sector has recorded a significant reduction in the last fifteen years, going from a capitalization of over 8 billion euros to approximately 0,8 billion, a value equal to only 0,02% of the total stock market capitalization. “It is crucial,” he concluded, “to intervene to improve the effectiveness of the SIIQ, adapting the Italian regulatory regime to European standards to make our market more attractive and competitive.”
