What is happening to Italy ?
Last week it was italian property for sale for 1 Euro in Sicily (which you can apply for at www.mipc.co.uk click the banner above.) and this week its Alitalia up for sale.

Augusto Fantozzi today Tuesday 23 september 2008 in 3 national Italian newspapers ; and 1 international newspaper, should be the London FT, has offered to the world his last attempt to save Alitalia.

Further to many salvage packages;
1. Air France, pulled by Berlusconi, in his manifesto he promised one of his first duties was to save Alitalia. Failed.
2. €300M state aid. Failed.
3. CAI (Compagnia aerea italiana) ; some unions just want too much and the union members who said “Better bankrupt than in the hands of robbers”…Do these people really want a job and would you buy a company whose employees have that mentality. Failed.

Now the government appointed administrator, Fantozzi, has certain responsibilities to protect his own legal duty.
He must be seen as trying to save the company. Otherwise he too may have personal problems when he announces bankruptcy.

If Lufthansa want the most lucrative cargo division ? or Air One, Carlo Toto, the Italian low budget airline, want the best of the airline stock then we may see a result, but more than likely by Friday when no one has made an offer, I mean would you wait for it to be advertised on the net if you were seriously considering buying an airline like Alitalia, the last one out can turn out the lights.

Arriverderci Alitalia.

Links
http://www.alitalia.com
For sale in Italian on Alitalia website.

For those of you who have already bought your property in Italy and actively renting your italian holiday home please observe the approaching financial deadline on 30/09/08 for your online tax return Modello Unico 2008, for declared income from 2007, that is, if you haven’t already submitted it.

Any queries regarding IRPEF ? have a read at:

http://www.studiolegalemetta.it/PDF/IncomeTax2008.pdf

David

www.mipc.co.uk

A lot of people rent out their properties in italy and turn a blind eye to the italian tax system. This is not advised. A good accountant without charging too much will file all necessary documents to stay within the law.

I would advise you to read the following document in english to get an understanding of IRPEF. Should you have any further questions then please just ask and i will try to answer your questions.

http://www.studiolegalemetta.it/PDF/IncomeTax2008.pdf

David

ITALIAN banks were always parsimonious about handing out loans and Italians traditionally dislike credit. This means Italy could escape the worst effects of the credit crunch, said Pierpaolo Benigno, an economics professor at Rome’s Luiss University.
“Lending to companies, which has been well monitored, remains consistent and although private mortgages have dipped, that’s due to rising interest rates. There is no fallout from the credit crunch here.”
Consumer lending is now on the rise but Italy has some catching up to do, said Benigno. “Banks are traditionally more familiar with the people they lend to and are more vigilant, and there remains a cultural bias against credit.”
But crunch or no crunch, Italians are suffering from soaring food and fuel prices, with consumer spending dropping 2.3% year on year in April.
Shoe purchases were down 6.4%, while supermarkets report Italians are abandoning the Mediterranean diet they made famous for cheaper frozen foods.
The daily newspaper Corriere della Sera summed it up last week as: ‘The Italian paradox – fewer debts, greater pessimism’. Italians, it said, now faced the ‘Syndrome of the fourth week’ as fridges are emptied before payday.
The employers’ group Confindustria believes economic growth will hover at about 0.1% this year – well below the 0.5% predicted by the government – and Italian business confidence fell to a three-year low in June, as Italy’s legions of small manufacturers fear for the prospects of domestic and foreign sales.
Car crashes are reportedly decreasing in the capital at the end of each month as car-mad Romans run out of money to buy petrol, while managers at one low-cost supermarket run by a charity in Rome’s suburbs were surprised to see far more Italian than immigrant families showing up for cut-price food.
House prices did rise by about 1.6% in the first six months of the year, the economics institute Nomisma said, but house sales are set to fall this year by 5%-6% compared with 2007. Benigno said:
“There is a stability in house prices right now because both supply and demand have fallen but demand is now set to fall faster, with prices in the suburbs the first to fall.”

Tremonti yesterday annouced a 3 year plan to revive the italian economy.

Read the following article here at Bloomberg for more details.

Total Italian real estate investment last year, including housing, rose 5% to €104bn, or roughly 18% of the total for the largest five European Union nations. Predicted sales for 2008are around €130bn, out of some €730bn forecast for the largest EU country group. Organisers of the Expo Italia Real Estate trade fair said that it is against this background that the fourth edition of EIRE opens its doors tomorrow in Milan as the international realestate trade fair dedicated to the Italian market, and to the wider real estate market in theMediterranean area.

Of total Italian investment volume this year, 82% will be in housing, 6% in office and 6% in retail properties, EIRE organisers noted. Sales in tourism real estate last year reached €2.8bn, with average prices up 4.7% from 2006. Office sector transactions for the year involved around 400,000 sq.m. in the most active market of Milan, the EIRE location, and about 240,000 in Rome.

They said longer-term data on commercial real estate turnover are also interesting: in the period 1998-2007, the total value that changed hands in the public and private sectors combined was around €30bn; 15 transactions via foreign investors and 10 through Italian funds. Foreign investors targeted 40% in office, 45% in retail, 10% in hotels and 5% in logistics. The sector currently employs around 400,000 people, against fewer than 90,000 in 1991.

Have you bought a property in italy ?  Do you have an italian property mortgage ?

Newly elected Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi‘s first act after taking office May 8 was to pass tax cuts on property and overtime pay and offer to freeze mortgage payments for homeowners at risk of default.

Frozen Mortgages

The government agreed last month with ABI, the association of Italian banks, on a plan that gives first-time property owners the chance to freeze mortgage payments at 2006 levels, when the ECB’s benchmark rate was 2 percent. The new measures, which take effect Jan. 1, 2009, could affect 1.25 million families that face higher interest payments on variable-rate mortgages.

Now thats a radical step towards stopping a recession. The italian government often backdates tax changes but it the first one i’ve seen in favour of the elctorate. Applicants will recieve a lump sum payment that compensates the excess interest paid over the last two years !!!