In Italy, housing heavily outweighs the other real estate segments, accounting for more than 80% of the country’s building stock. Moreover, most of the residential stock is outdated, inefficient and unfit for purpose. A return to efficiency is urgently needed in Italian buildings. The opportunities for players in the real estate sector are potentially huge.
This is the situation as explained by Riccardo Serrini, CEO of the Prelios Group, speaking at the 26th Real Estate Scenarios Forum in Santa Margherita Ligure. "Intervention is not easy, however,” said Serrini during the discussion panel on Effects of change on cities and markets. "Underlying our NPLs, we manage real estate assets for 97.667 million square meters, with more than 30,000 homes with a presumed market value of 700 euro per square meter. We also have 253 hotels, for a presumed market value of 432 euro per square meter." Redevelopment projects could bring an improvement in the fundamental question of real estate energy efficiency. "We know that in Italy, 28% of primary energy is used to heat and cool houses, and this situation needs to change radically,” Serrini explained. "But with property values at the levels I've described, intervention is not financially feasible.” In this situation, to improve building energy management, the Prelios Group “has signed a very important collaboration agreement with Siemens on projects in the area of digital building technologies, aiming to enhance properties through energy savings and building performance sustainability."
