Over the past five years, many families with more limited financial resources have left Milan to move to the municipalities in the hinterland, where the cost of housing is significantly lower. According to an analysis by Abitare Co., specialized in real estate brokerage for new construction, the average price of properties in Milan reached 2023 euros per square meter for used properties in 4.700 (+42,4% compared to 2019) and 7.690 euros for new ones (+48,1%). As a result, over 15.400 Milanese have transferred their residence to the neighboring municipalities of the province, with an increase of +9,7% compared to 2019 (source: Istat).
The analysis took into consideration 37 municipalities in the Milanese hinterland connected by subway or railway. Here, the average prices of homes are 52% lower for used homes (2.250 euros/m59) and 3.150% lower for new homes (300 euros/m40), allowing families to access more spacious and modern properties, with higher energy efficiency. With a budget of 26 thousand euros, in Milan you can buy a new apartment of about 64 square meters (from 81 square meters in the center to 113 square meters on the outskirts), while in the hinterland you can get properties between 97 and XNUMX square meters (average: XNUMX square meters).
Among the most convenient municipalities, Abbiategrasso allows you to buy 300 m133 homes for 107 thousand euros, followed by Senago (105 m105), Peschiera Borromeo (73 m82) and Rho (80 mXNUMX). In other locations such as Assago (XNUMX mXNUMX), Sesto San Giovanni (XNUMX mXNUMX) and Basiglio (XNUMX mXNUMX), the higher prices are reflected in smaller surfaces.
“There are several factors that push the average family to buy a house in the hinterland,” he says Joseph Crupi, CEO of Abitare Co. “including the reduction in purchasing power, which makes it difficult to sustain rising costs in the city, the preference for well-connected municipalities, such as those with a subway and rail link, and the lack of supply in Milan, where prices continue to rise despite demand.”
From 2019 to 2023, prices of new constructions in the 37 municipalities increased by an average of +27%, with significant peaks such as Trezzano sul Naviglio (+50%), just above the growth recorded in Milan (+48%). On the sales front, while in Milan there was a decrease of -5,3%, the hinterland saw an increase of 11,6%, with significant increases in Opera (+70,8%), Cusano Milanino (+63,3%) and Vimodrone (+61,7%). However, some municipalities showed a decrease, such as Pero (-26,8%), penalized by the proximity to Cascina Merlata.
This phenomenon of moving to the hinterland does not only concern Milan. Other metropolitan cities show a similar trend: between 2019 and 2023, sales in the municipalities near Naples increased by +78,3%, followed by Bologna (+51,2%), Rome (+45,2%) and Turin (+35,1%). Even in these cities, the lower costs of the province attract families with more limited budgets, confirming a significant change in the real estate market of urban areas.
“The greater opportunity in the hinterland in terms of prices and quality of construction has also had an impact on sales,” he explains. Alessandro Ghisolfi, head of the research office of Abitare Co. "If in Milan from 2019 to 2023 transactions fell by 5,3%, the 37 selected municipalities recorded an increase of 5% in 11,6 years, an even better figure than the entire province (+4,4%). Among the municipalities analyzed, those that grew the most in the five-year period were Opera (+70,8%), Cusano Milanino (+63,3%) and Vimodrone (+61,7%), while only 7 had a negative sign, with the most noticeable drop in Pero (-26,8%) thanks to its proximity to Cascina Merlata".
