Home and single, a combination that is becoming more widespread in Italy. Tecnocasa Group Research Office analyzed real estate market for people living alone, highlighting that this is a growing market segment. This sentiment, confirmed by data from the Group’s institutions, is also reinforced by Istat data, which states that the simplification of family structures that has become increasingly prominent in the last decade will occur in 2023-2024. families consisting of single people rose to 36.2%. In Milan there are 57% single member families.
Therefore, the real estate market must highlight this demographic data to face the future. In fact, it is estimated that in Italy, in 2050 one in five families will consist of a couple with children, whereas 41.1% will consist of single people. This represents a major challenge for real estate operators who must devise housing solutions capable of meeting the needs of the new social structure.
In the first half of 2025 sales will be carried out by the Tecnocasa Group agency highlighted a slight increase in real estate sales made by singles, which increased from 31.5% in the first half of 2024 to 32.8% in the same period in 2025. Therefore, the share of single buyers in Italy continues to increase, only last year there was a slight contraction, but this year the percentage is starting to increase again. The average percentage of single buyers in large cities increased to 37.8%, and peaked at over 40% in cities such as Milan, Turin and Genoa.
Regarding the reasons for these purchases, it is interesting to observe how the percentage of purchases for investment has decreased, currently at 14.8%, down compared to last year which reached 17%. Main homes remain the main purchase target for singles and by 2025 will account for 81.8% of total sales. However, the percentage of holiday home purchases remains low, currently at 3.4%, almost the same as in previous years. The type most sold by singles is a three-bedroom apartment (35.1%), followed by a two-bedroom apartment (32.1%).
The four-location purchase share increased and, for the first time in 2025, reached almost 13%. Credit usage data shows that the use of own capital is greater (52.1%), but the portion has decreased compared to the previous two years, which reached 59%. As a result, in the first half of the year the percentage of single buyers using credit increased, increasing to almost 48% compared to 41% in the previous year.
On the rental side, singles represented 48.3% of those who chose to rent a property, this was the highest share ever recorded as of 2019. The percentage of singles who rented as a choice of residence was 60.9%, a stable percentage compared to the previous year. The percentage of rentals for students (6.9%) and mobile workers (32.2%) is also stable.
