Part 1, intro of the series and Italy quality of life and costs.
INTRODUCTION
I decided to prepare and post some articles to explain why I consider Italy an excellent choice also for property investment destination for foreigners.
Usually foreigners look at properties in Italy when they fell in love with the country. So they want to have a holiday home to go to when have time, or eventually a home for when they retire, to move to live in Italy for several months each year, if not even permanently.
In the articles that I will post I will present info about:
- Italy quality of life, and financial info as interesting to know for living or even investing in a country.
- Property prices, compared to other countries that are in a “property bubble”.
- Countries considered property tax heavens in the world, what data are taken in consideration.
- Why Italy is not in the list, how to analyze Italian data that are not easy to grasp.
- Explaining cadastral value and buying taxation in Italy
- Yearly taxation, rental taxations
- Capital gain taxation
- Inheritance taxation, how to buy real estate in Italy can be a way to pay much lower inheritance taxations also for foreigners.
- Tax regimes for foreigners, from 7% tax regime for pensioners, to golden VISA opportunities, that are probably best in Europe.
ITALY QUALITY OF LIFE
Lets start here to look at what makes Italy a special country.
About this you find so many videos and info online, so I will just be short. Some bullet points that are here more as reminder:
- Italy is probably the most beautiful country on earth. Because of its natural landscapes, its cities and arts, its food, and also the friendly culture of Italian people.
- Can find from most spectacular seaside areas, to lakes, hotsprings, hills and mountains with also ski resorts.
- Data report that about 65% of all art in the world is Italian, and over 45% is in Italy!
- Each city in Italy has some art worth visiting, even small villages. Issue we have so much of it in Italy that often we do not give much relevance to it.
- Food…..do I really need to write about Italian food?
- What matters is also the quality of the food, with Italy having the strictest food regulations in the world for quality, pesticides, conservation, transportation…
- Even if is a relatively small country, there are many different traditions and cultures in Italy. From north to south we live in very different ways. Still overall we are friendly people and welcome expats.
- Italian public health care system is considered by the World Health Organization as second best in the world! Even looking at the difference between best quality in North Italy, and lower quality in South Italy.
COSTS OF LIVING
This is a relevant info to know when considering where to live as country, or as area in a country. As you can imagine, living in Milano, that is the most expensive city in Italy, can cost more than double than living in small villages in South Italy. And property prices in Milan can be even 10 times or more those of a small village.
So I take as example our own costs of living as family in Pisa city centre. Where average property price right in the centre, is Euro 3,000 per square meter. And we have 2 kids in high school. So probably our is a good example right in the middle from most cheap places in the South, to most expensive cities like Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice…
As monthly expenses in brief:
- We shop in quality supermarkets, not cheap chains, even if naturally we try to buy food in promotion when available. Being Italian-Chinese family, we give high value to food quality. Monthly we spend about Euro 1,000
- On average we eat out not even once per week. Than we have our ice creams or threats when around. Spending per month about Euro 300
- We are a bad example on this, as we do not smoke and basically we do not drink alcohol, so for us this is not a real expense, lets put Euro 200 per year. Whilst it might be for you. Just remember wine and alcohol prices in Italy are low!
- Fashion shopping. In Italy can find quality thing for cheap in the right shops, especially during sale seasons. So lets put Euro 150 per month average.
- We own a high quality penthouse right in the center of Pisa, with car garage and big terrace in a well kept building with lift. So our management fees are not cheap, still just over Euro 200 per month.
- Plus utilities, rubbish tax, other Euro 100 per month.
- Up to high school, tuition fees are nearly free. With books we spend for 2 kids Euro 800 per year
- Sports for the kids, Euro 800 per year
- In the city we just go around walking or by bicycle. Even riding to the seaside beaches.
- We just have a motorcycle, and rent a car when really needed. Overall with traveling, insurance, petrol, probably we spend just over Euro 2,000 per year.
- Also overall we are healthy, our medicines and health care expenses per year would be probably just Euro 150
- Lets leave out holidays costs, as is too personal.
Summing up all, we basically have cost of living of Euro 25,000 in a year as family of 4. Not “living it large”, still having a really good standard of living, we have all we need, nothing missing. There will be families in Italy living for half our budget. Naturally can spend much more, depends on your living standards, and disposable income. On our side we save more than half what I earn. Investing what left mostly in real estate, we just bought our third flat in Pisa, that will rent to students.
As reported above, these info could be useful to understand what could be an average cost of living in Italy. And compare it with other countries that you are taking into consideration, or even where you currently live.
Moving to live in a foreign country, focus on Italy
Max and Lina, an expatriate couple with children, share their diverse experiences living abroad through different stages of life. Max, an Italian expat, recounts his early days in London, highlighting the challenges and adaptations required as a young individual. The article delves into Max’s transition to China, emphasizing the significant support he received as an employee, making the move smoother.
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