The Italian market is back on track, according to panelists at PropertyEU’s Outlook investment Briefing held at the London office of Colliers International last week.

The Italian market is back on track, according to panelists at PropertyEU’s Outlook investment Briefing held at the London office of Colliers International last week.

‘Italy continues to recover in slow motion,’ he said. ‘We have been fairly active in Italy and will continue to be active there.’

While the UK has moved into what Lurie described as ‘a new normal’ in the wake of the global financial crisis, that is not yet the case for Italy, he noted.

‘The London market is already very liquid, but we continue to find compelling opportunities here as well thanks to our presence and expertise. There is an advantage to being active in Milan and Italy and to offer both liquidity and a fix-it skill set to improve value in transitional assets.’

Italy is indeed turning the corner, agreed Riccardo Serrini, CEO of Prelios Credit Servicing. ‘We had some very tough years in 2012-13. There was a real lack of financing, virtually none at all, and a lot of uncertainty. But now the political situation is more stable and we have access again to the lending system. We now have hope for recovery although there is still a lot of pressure on rents and a big question mark with regard to secondary assets.’

Italy’s notoriously complex legal system is also being shaken up, he added. ‘Legal procedures tend to take a bit too long but the new government is making a lot of improvements.’

Commenting on the opportunities in the Italian market, Serrini predicted that more international investors would move on the country in the coming 12 months as local banks start to shift their non-performing loans in the wake of the European Central Bank’s recent Asset Quality Review. Indeed, Italy is set to become one of Europe’s most dynamic investment markets in terms of NPLs, he said. ‘Italian banks hold €480 bn of NPLs on their books. Roughly 40% of those loans are for real estate.’

Italy is the second-biggest NPL market after Germany, he added. ‘I think it will be a big market. We’re already seeing speculative US investors popping up everywhere.’