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This study aims to propose and test an innovative methodology for assessing mortgage lending value. The method tries to improve and rationalize, within the canonical and derivative approach that is generally used by the sector operators, the appraisal of the percentage reduction to be applied to the market value.

Considering that the European Mortgage Federation and the Basel Committee highlight the importance of information about the risks of properties to be loaned on, the value at risk approach has been developed so as to assess the mortgage lending value as a technique of risk analysis. With reference to the Italian context, the method elaborates the historical analysis of the property values in 93 major Italian cities for the residential and commercial intended uses in a significant period (1967-2015) and allows to determine the reduction coefficients of the market value as a function of the central, semi-central and peripheral locations of the property.

The results include the reduction coefficients of the market value for the derivative appraisal of the mortgage lending value. The coefficients obtained satisfy the need for a rational assessment of the property risk and the appropriate spatial contextualization of the risk components related to the local demand and supply, thus eliminating any inconsistency and danger of determining the mortgage lending value using a simple and lump-sum percentage deduction of the market value.

The global economic crisis in the past decade, triggered by the 2007 US Subprime mortgage crisis and consequent collapse of property values, has highlighted the need for high level professional skills in the appraisal of properties as securities for credit exposures. The method proposed for the assessment of the mortgage lending value allows to overcome the uncertainties underlying the determination of an independent value through indirect methods (income approach, cost approach) and rationalize the appraisal of the risk in the traditional derivative approach through a flexible procedure, with it being possible to adapt it to any territorial context, as well as any intended use.

In this research a model for the rationalization of the assessment in a rent to buy contract has been proposed, in order to contextualize the economic amounts involved in the negotiation according to the specific market risk of the area where the property is located. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The model borrows the logical principles of operational research, in order to take into account the convenience constraints of the parties involved (seller and buyer) and to determine the minimum amount of the additional annual rent to be charged as down payment on the final sale price, compensating the investment risk. The procedure proposed for the risk assessment combines the discrete modeling of real option analysis and the exponentially weighted moving average method, in order to weigh appropriately the data available for the specific area in the analysis.

Considering the limit conditions of variability of the property market value at the time provided for the notarial deed, the proposed model returns two values (minimum and maximum) for a fixed contract duration and for a specific market area for the annual additional rent, which define the reference range to ensure the compliance with the convenience constraints of the parties involved.

In order to test the reliability of the developed methodology, the model has been implemented to the 24 “microzones” defined by the Italian Revenue Agency for the city of Bari (Southern Italy). The results obtained were then georeferenced, in order to create thematic maps of convenience for the subjects interested in the rent to buy formula. The developed maps define a useful support to be consulted in the negotiation phase between the seller and the buyer, allowing both to verify the investment conveniences within the limits of their disposable incomes and their needs.

The tabulated values of the down-payment amounts and the related thematic maps constitute a valid support for both the parties in the initial negotiation phase of the contractual conditions: in fact, if comparable data for the assessment of the market value and the market rent at the time of the stipulation of the contract are ordinarily available, the increase in the rent, to be charged as the annual down payment on the final purchase price, is generally entrusted to the contractual capabilities of the subjects involved, since there is no market reference that can direct an appropriate assessment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a particular type of property market, that of funeral homes, of which little is known, despite the fact that it is an expanding market, reflecting a social and cultural change in Italy.

A qualitative analysis of the funeral property market was carried out. Information and data were collected from funeral companies, with reference to their market strategy, and from institutional investors, in order to gauge their knowledge of that specific sector and their willingness to invest in this specific property type. The instruments used were questionnaires, telephone interviews and on-site visits.

The results of this study suggest that Italian funeral companies identified a new property market, responding to the demands of a changing social context, especially in Northern Italy. Limited experience in the management of this asset and the lack of a clear and uniform legislative regulation at the national level appear to be among the main difficulties. From the investors’ point of view, the main problems in investing in this property were the lack of adequate knowledge in the sector and moral qualms about the specific type of assets.

The small sample restricts generalization beyond the companies that participated in the research. Furthermore, the research only focused on the private sector related to niche market strategy and property investments.

The paper could raise awareness of a specific and not well-known property market among the real estate operators.

The originality of the analysis lies in investigating a relevant phenomenon from the social point of view that has been little or not at all addressed from the point of view of real estate, particularly in Italy.

This paper aims to test and compare two innovative methodologies (utility additive and evolutionary polynomial regression) for mass appraisal of residential properties. The aim is to deepen their characteristics, by exploring the potentialities and the operating limits.

With reference to the same case studies, concerning samples of residential properties recently sold in three Italian cities, the two procedures are tested and the results are compared. The first method is the utility additive, which interprets the process of the property price formation as a multi-criteria selection of multi-objective typology, where the selection criteria are the property characteristics that are decisive in the real estate market; the second method is a hybrid data-driven technique, called evolutionary polynomial regression, that uses multi-objective genetic algorithms to search those models expressions that simultaneously maximize accuracy of data and parsimony of mathematical functions.

The outputs obtained from the experimentation highlight the potentialities and the limits of the two methodologies, as well as the possibility of jointly applying them to interpret and predict the real estate phenomena in a more realistic representation.

In all countries, mass appraisal techniques have become strategic for the definition of management and enhancement policies of public and private property assets, in the case of investments of technical and economic refunctionalization (energy, environment, etc.), and for the alienation of buildings no longer suitable for public needs (military barracks, hospitals, areas in disuse, etc.). In this context, the use of mass appraisal techniques for residential properties assumes a leading role for sector operators (buyers, sellers, institutions, insurance companies, banks, real estate funds, etc.). Therefore, the results of the applications outline the potentialities of the two methodologies implemented and the opportunity of further insights of the topics that have been dealt with in this research.

The relative benefit of sector and regional diversification is a topic of continuing interest to academics, however, the issue has not previously been investigated in Italy. Additionally, previous studies have used geographically defined regions, rather than economically functional areas, when performing the analysis even though most would argue that it is the economic structure of the area that will lead to differences in demand and hence property performance. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to use the economically defined regions of Italy to test the relative benefits of regional diversification versus sector diversification within the Italian real estate portfolio.

The paper uses the dummy variable methodology of Heston and Rouwenhorst on the sector and regional affiliation of 27 cities in Italy using annual data over the period 1989 to 2007 for three property‐type: residential, retail and offices and four economically defined regions: the North West, the North East, the Centre of Italy and the South and Islands.

In contrast, to previous studies it is found that the sector and regional factors effect the returns of properties in Italy in almost equal measure, which is probably a result of using the diverse economic regions of Italy rather than arbitrary geographically locations. Nonetheless, the results show that the sector factor has started to dominate the regional effect in Italy since 1997.

This is the first paper to study the relative benefits of sector and regional diversification in Italy. Additionally, this is the first paper to use regions which are defined on an economic functional basis rather than a geographical basis. The results suggest that, unlike managers in other countries, Italian real estate managers need to monitor both the regional and sector composition of their portfolios.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an innovative model that can be included within the market approach methods for property valuations. The algorithm takes into account the frequent high level of dissimilarity of the comparables selected for the assessment, thus providing for the use of appropriate similarity and reliability coefficients capable of weighing the data of the comparison sample with respect to the different degrees of similarity and reliability.

The proposed model borrows the operative logics of the goal programming techniques, in order to identify the solution, the market value of the subject property and the implicit prices of the different influencing factors, since they are more reliable from the mathematical and empirical points of view.

The model has been applied to two case studies, relating to samples of residential properties located in the city of Naples (Southern Italy). The results obtained have outlined the high valuation performance of the developed appraisal model, capable of overcoming the applicability limits of classical market approach methods as well as providing solutions that are highly consistent with the expected empirical phenomena.

The research takes into account the growing need of both professionals and end users (banks, courts, public and private Entities, etc.) for valuation models that are easily repeatable and sufficiently objective. They are required in order to allow for the rapid verification of the elaborations carried out as well as to check the valuer’s appreciation of the contribution of the influencing factors in the market price formation. The outputs of the two applications developed have highlighted the ability of the proposed model to satisfy these market requests.

The proposed model can be easily implemented through a simple calculation program, with the mathematical structure elaborated allowing to overcome some application limits of the classical market approach methods. Furthermore, the introduction in the algorithm of appropriate similarity and reliability coefficients, capable of suitably weighting the data of the comparison sample, allows to widen the spatial horizon for the identification of the comparables as well as select properties characterized by a high level of dissimilarity. This makes it possible to apply the model in territorial contexts characterized by markets that are not excessively dynamic.

The overall performance of real estate funds can be ascribed to capital appreciation and/or income return. The Italian property funds market has grown significantly over the past few years; however, little is known about the key drivers of property fund performance. The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of two sources of funds’ performance and identify their relevance during the financial crisis.

The paper considers the Italian market in the last decade and analyses the annual reports of public real estate funds, separating appraisal returns from income returns. By considering a wide time horizon, it evaluates if the roles of income returns and capital gains with respect to overall performance are more or less influenced by fund characteristics, such as asset diversification, concentration, and leverage.

The contribution of income return and capital growth are not strictly related to the overall performance of Italian real estate funds, with a significantly lower correlation during the global financial crisis. Furthermore, the main drivers of the two income sources are not strictly comparable.

The paper presents the first analysis on the source of income return for the Italian real estate funds and it represents one of the few studies that considers the effect of the financial crisis on European indirect real estate investments, capital appreciation and income return.

This study illustrates the economic and financial dynamics of the sector, analysing the evolution of the main ratios of profitability and financial structure of 1,559 Italian real estate companies divided into the three macro-regions: North, Centre and South, in the period 2011–2020. In this way, it is also possible to verify the responsiveness to the 2020 pandemic crisis.

The analysis uses descriptive statistics tools and the ANOVA method of analysis of variance, supplemented by the Tukey–Kramer test, to identify significant differences between the three Italian macro-regions.

The study shows the increase in profitability after the 2008 crisis, despite its reverberation in the years 2012–2013. The financial structure of companies improved almost everywhere. The pandemic had modest effects on performance.

In the future, other indices should be considered to gain a more comprehensive view. This is a quantitative study based on financial statements data that neglects other important economic and social factors.

Public policies could use this study for better interventions to support the sector. In addition, internal management can compare their company's performance with the industry average to identify possible improvements.

The research analyses an economic field that employs a large number of people, especially when considering the construction and real estate services covered by this analysis.

The study contributes to the literature by providing a quantitative analysis of industry dynamics, with comparative information that can be deduced from financial statements over the years.

This study aims to understand the behaviour of novice consumers and provide businesses with guidelines regarding how to approach the different typologies of novice consumers from new inexperienced markets and from new generations.

The reasoned action approach is applied to wine consumer, and two parallel surveys using a questionnaire have been conducted with a sample of the Missouri population – representing new consumers – and a sample of the young Italian population – representing young consumers located in traditional consuming countries. Two research hypotheses are tested.

The hypothesis testing reveals two effects. The age effect creates similarities in the decision-making process structure, and attitude and subjective norm have the same weight in influencing behavioural intention. The novice effect creates differences in the structure; however, similarities exist at a more basic level than that of attitude and subjective norm, in salient beliefs and salient referents.

The study highlights that penetration of these consumer segments should pursue different marketing approaches: educational goals for young people from new markets, an experiential marketing approach to improve the link between product and producer for new consumers and emphasis on cultural aspects of the product in a “young manner” for young consumers from traditional consuming markets.

For the first time in the literature, this study analyses commonalities and peculiarities in the decision-making process of novice consumers.

Scoring is a widely used, long-established, and universally applicable method of measuring risks, especially those that are difficult to quantify. Unfortunately, the scoring method is often misused in real estate practice and underestimated in academia. The purpose of this paper is to supplement the literature with general rules under which scoring systems should be designed and validated, so that they can become reliable risk instruments.

The paper combines the rules, or axioms, for coherent risk measures known from the literature with those for scoring instruments. The result is a system of rules that a risk scoring system should fulfil. The approach is theoretical, based on a literature survey and reasoning.

At first, the paper clarifies that a risk score should express the variation of a property’s yield and not of its quality, as it is often done in practice. Then the axioms for a coherent risk scoring are derived, e.g. the independence of the risk factors. Finally, the paper proposes procedures for valid and reliable risk scoring systems, e.g. the out-of-time validation.

Although it is a theoretical work, the paper also focuses on practical applicability. The findings are illustrated with examples of scoring systems.

Rules for risk measures and for scoring systems have been established long ago, but the combination is a first. In this way, the paper contributes to real estate risk research and risk management practice.