Italian Rent Crisis: Singles Struggle in Major Cities
Student movements and citizens’ associations have increasingly protested teh high and rising cost of rents in major Italian cities.A recent inquiry by Immobiliare.it Insights sought to quantify these costs, revealing a challenging landscape for single renters.
Key Findings: Accessibility of Rent
- Florence: The city where rents are least accessible for a single person.
- Milan: Second least accessible, with high absolute rental prices.
- Naples and Rome: Follow Milan, presenting similar challenges in affordability.
The Affordability Gap
The study compared the theoretically affordable rent (30% of average net income) with the average cost of a two-room apartment. Though, it acknowledges that average income data can be skewed by high earners.
Average income data per se they are not very indicative because the calculation is unbalanced by people with a very high income (that is, few rich people are enough to make the average income raise a lot).Keep this in mind when evaluating affordability in any city.
City-by-City Breakdown
- Florence: A single person can allocate an average of €530 per month for rent,while a two-room apartment costs around €1,113 per month (a 110% difference).
- Milan: The average price for renting a two-room apartment is about €1,243 per month.A single person can allocate almost €700, but this covers only 0.7% of available two-room apartments.
- Naples: The average price of a two-room apartment is €817, with a single person’s availability at €461.
- Rome: Two-room apartments cost about €1,000 per month, while a single person can afford €570 per month. Accessible apartments represent less than 3% of the total offer.
- Venice: A two-room apartment requires an average of €853 per month, with a single person’s availability at €490.
- Bologna: On average, €918 is needed, while a single person can pay just over €550. Rent prices in Bologna have risen by 10% year over year [[2]].
- Bari: The average monthly cost is €785, while the average allocable figure is €478.
- Verona: Rent averages €756, against an availability of €525.
- Palermo and Catania: Two-room apartments cost €595 and €592 respectively, and a single person coudl afford to pay €449 and €440 per month.
- Genoa and Turin: The two cities where people who go to live alone face less financial strain.
The Impact of Sharing
The situation improves significantly when rent is split between two people. In this scenario, only Florence shows a remaining shortage of about €150 (data from Q1 2025).
Expert Insights
In the first three months of 2025 the rents in these cities have increased by 5.8 percent on average compared to the same period of 2024. Also for this reason, observes Intini, lately the singles tend to rent two -room apartments in the hinterland, where they cost less, or try directly to buy a house.
Antonio Intini, CEO of Immobiliare.it Insights
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Which Italian city has the least accessible rents for singles? Florence.
- What is the average rent for a two-room apartment in Milan? Around €1,243 per month.
- How much have rents increased in major Italian cities? 5.8% on average in the first three months of 2025 compared to 2024.
- What are singles doing to cope with high rents? Renting in the hinterland or buying a house.
