From 2019 to 2025, rents in the main Italian capitals grew much faster than wages, worsening the problem of access to housing for young people, families and workers. This was revealed by a Cna analysis based on data from the Real Estate Market Observatory of the Revenue Agency and on the trend of net wages in the same period.
On average, in all the provincial capitals analysed, rents for a standard 70 square meter apartment increased between 19% (Potenza) and almost 50%, while salaries recorded much smaller increases, generally between 7% and 15%. Milan and Florence lead the price increases with a 49% increase compared to 2019: today for an average apartment you need over 1,800 euros per month in the Lombardy capital and 1,340 in Florence. Bologna, Padua, Venice and Naples follow with increases of over 40%, while Rome records growth of around 37%, surpassed by Bari and Verona with 39%. However, the increases in the capitals of the South and in the cities less subjected to tourist and university pressure are more limited.
In Catanzaro, smaller increases between 19% and 23%
Among those where rents have grown the least are Potenza, Campobasso, Catanzaro, with increases between 19% and 23%. The Cna analysis also highlights the growing impact of rent on average net salaries, especially in university cities and large production hubs. In Milan the average rent absorbs 73% of the net salary, in Florence 62%. The fee exceeds 50% of the average wages in Bologna, Venice, Rome, Padua, Verona and Pisa. On the other hand, L’Aquila is the capital where rent has the least impact, only 30% of the salary, followed by Catanzaro, Isernia, Caltanissetta and Enna with 31-32%. Micro and small businesses – the analysis continues – report growing difficulties in finding qualified workers willing to move to big cities. The cost of housing is becoming a concrete obstacle to professional mobility, employment and the attractiveness of the most dynamic territories. «The issue of housing no longer represents just a social issue – states the President of the Cna Dario Costantini – but a true economic emergency which risks slowing down growth, investments and local development». An effective housing plan, adequate incentives for real estate redevelopment, represent the tools to provide responses to the emergency, supports Cna: the alternative is to have cities that are increasingly expensive, less accessible and incapable of retaining young people, workers and the skills essential to the growth of the country.