"Italian Property Funds: opportunities for investors”

The Italian property investment market is in its infancy. The IPD Italian index only has five years of data and the transparency of the market, although improving rapidly, has historically been poor. In the last ten years, the Italian market has seen an explosion in property funds. The Italian property investment market was initially limited due to prescriptive and inflexible laws, but there was a substantial change in 2003/2004, when the Italian Government introduced new laws to facilitate property investment. As a result, property fund returns have been strong and positive, particularly in comparison to stocks and shares. This paper reviews the current situation in Italy and comments upon the opportunities, and problems, for real estate investors in Italy.