Italy aiming to boost property market

Italy’s steps to transform its real estate investment trust industry mirror changes made by Spain that helped attract foreign investors including Bill Gross and George Soros.

The Italian changes include lifting the maximum stake a single investor can hold in a REIT, known as a SIIQ in Italy, to 60% from 51%, according to a decree published in the state bulletin on Sept 12. It also reduces the amount of recurring rental income the company must distribute to investors to 70% from 85%.

“Italy’s government has clearly had an eye on the robust health of the French REIT sector and how the changes to the regime in Spain and the launch of the structure in Ireland have spawned a series of successful IPOs,” said Philip Charls, chief executive of the European Public Real Estate Association.