ITALY BRIEFING: Tight lending hinders local investment

Foreign capital has a great opportunity in Italy as tight lending hinders local investors, delegates at the PropertyEU Italy Investment Briefing in London heard.

‘In the past, local investors were supported totally by Italian banks,’ said Luca Turco, head of institutional and corporate business development at asset manager Prelios.

While Italian banks remain focussed on dealing with old debt, foreign banks are becoming more interested in Italy, he said.

‘The foreign banks pay a lot of attention to credit ratings, so they support foreign investors,’ said Turco.

However, local investment will come back and drive up prices, the briefing heard.

‘In Italy, the market for local investors has disappeared, but it will come back in the next two years, once Italian banks are ready to grant new loans. Now could be an opportunity for foreign investors with an aggressive opportunistic plan,’ said Turco.

For the opening presentation and videos of the event, click on Italy Investment Briefing