Abruzzo Homes After The Quake

Abruzzo real estate was in a positive trend during the previous years of 2009. This was mainly due to a good promotion done by the Administration and by several Britons who decided to invest in there; this region attracted property buyers also by fairly low prices and beautiful scenarios.

But then the earthquake of April 09 drastically changed everything.

The tremendous event and the huge amount of harm that it caused was seen by many people, an interest hugely magnified by the G8 as media from all across the world followed big personalities walk through rubbles and promise to sponsor the reconstruction of this monument or that church.

But if the media did good giving great visibility to Abruzzo, on the other hand gave the impression that the region had been completely destroyed, instead of highlighting the fact that the quake was localized in the city of L'Aquila and its surround towns. This forced tourists and property investors away from Abruzzo, diverting their interest to bordering Le Marche region and to other areas of Italy. This has caused to Abruzzo's economy a bigger damage than the quake itself.

Although less than expected, also Abruzzo property market has been affected by all this factors, bringing down the number of enquiries by 19% throughout the eight months right after the earthquake. The negative trend was stronger in the first four months and then it rose up in the last four mounths of the year.

The interest coming back seen during the last period of the year rises the mood and gives hopes that property in Abruzzo will weather the storm and coming up in vogue again in 2010.

This optimistic scenario is backed by the fact that the number of enquiries sent for Abruzzo properties in January 09 are 42% up compared to January of the previous year. The most interested are Americans and British, accounting for the 39% of the enquiries, but a big interest comes also from Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden and France (all together share the 42% of the requests). Mainly the requests are either for restored properties or in habitable conditions (61%), 2 bedrooms (44.9%), with an average price of €159,850.

For all the ones that are interested in restoration projects Abruzzo is the right place to look at, both for the big availability of properties in need of restoration and for the nice style that properties have in this area, giving the new owner the chance to end up with a very beautiful and worthy piece of real estate. This let apart of a very important fact: that properties in Abruzzo are still cheaper than the average of the rest of the country. The price of a country house to be restored of about 100 square metres is around €80/100,000 although it is not difficult to find much better bargains doing a thorough search. On the site Gate-away.com are listed country houses of that size in Abruzzo with price starting from as little as €50,000, even less for something smaller.

Abruzzo gains interest from buyers not only for its property prices but also because of its high mountains (actually the highest in central Italy) with beautiful ski resorts along with a marvellous coastline. The average price for a cozy 1 bedroom apartment by the sea is around €100/120,000, which can be perfect to be rented out as a holiday rental. To give an idea of the income that such investment can generate, the rental rate for this type of apartment (depending on the distance form the sea) can go from €200/300 per week during the low season to €1000/1200 per week during the high season. The rental season covers period that goes from May to October, even though you could have a very warm weather also in April and November. What impresses Abruzzo's visitors is the genuine approach that this land gives, from the people to the food, very tasty and at a very good price. The nature is stunning as Abruzzo hosts a big number of natural parks and offers a wilderness that has not equals in Europe.

Abruzzo is such a beautiful region that if you decide to buy a property there you'll hardly regret it.