An average flat in Milan costs 166 salaries

With that factor, the city now ranks as the most un-affordable in terms of housing in all of Italy

Apparently, if you live in the city of Milan and would like to buy a flat there, you should have the equivalent of 166 Italian salaries ready. In other words, if all your income went to paying for the property (and somehow miraculously you didn’t have any other living costs), you would still have to work almost 13 years to pay it off.

This was the finding from a recent report by Italian real estate brokerage Tecnocasa Group, as cited by MiTomorrow. The analysis also showed that the northern Italian city, also known as the economic capital of the country, is currently the most expensive one in terms of housing costs.

The housing burden is almost double that of the national average

Thus, it turns out that Milan’s property market is steaming hot to the point of being unbearable. It takes an average of 12.8 years to buy a flat in Milan. On the national level, however, it takes just 6.9 years. It seems that last year, COVID or not, the property market in the city went up by 6.7%.

In terms of the housing cost burden, Milan is followed by Rome and Florence to form the top three. On the other end of the spectrum, the most "economic" cities are Palermo and Genoa, where only 3.6 and 3.5 years of salaries are needed respectively. Milan has been occupying the top spot since 2019.

The study was based on data relating to the price per square meter of an average used property and on the annual contractual net wages per worker employed full-time on a contract, obtained from the Italian statistical institute (ISTAT) database. It was also assumed that the income was destined entirely for the purchase of a place of 85 square metres.