Housing Costs Development in Italy: Implications for Tenure Inequalities

This chapter unpacks the composition of housing costs in Italy, shedding light on the main trends in house prices, utilities, and affordability over the last twenty years. It shows that the overburden of housing costs is more severe for private tenants, urban singles, and households at the bottom of the income distribution, highlighting widening divides across tenure, household typologies, and income levels. These disparities are largely shaped by the ambiguous approach of public policies in the field of housing, characterized by inertia when it comes to promptly addressing emerging challenges, and disregard for any notions of redistribution when actions are taken. The chapter illustrates this ambivalence by examining several post-pandemic interventions designed to alleviate housing costs, including incentives for energy retrofitting and rent allowances.