Italy’s residential real estate market may grow as much as 2 percent this year, after a 4.2 percent jump in sales in the first quarter.

Residential prices may be unchanged or decline as much as 2% in 2010

Italian exports, which are leading the country out of recession, are projected to increase by 8 per cent this year following a collapse of over 22 per cent in 2009.

Italy is a primary tourist destination.

Rural tourism is becoming a strong tourist market and there are grants for property renovation in rural areas

Under Italian constitution, the judiciary is independent of the legislature and the executive branches of government

Italian property market close to stabilise in 2010

The austerity budget is expected to cut this year's GDP growth by 0.1% point. The current forecast is for 1.0% growth. Growth in 2011 and 2012 is expected to be cut by 0.2 percentage points each year.

Partly because of increased energy costs, inflation increased from an annual rate of about 5% to an annual average of 16.6%

The legal system moves very slowly and it may take years for a case to come to court

Unemployment is anticipated to rise to 10.7% by the end of 2010, from 6.8% in 2008.

Despite having the fourth largest economy in the EU, Italy’s mortgage market is around 20% of GDP, significantly below the EU average of 50% of GDP.