In Italy’s urban centers, the humble parking spot has become an unlikely investment darling—and prices reflect a market gone wild.

Italy’s real estate landscape tells a story beyond apartments and villas. In 2024, a quieter revolution unfolded in the nation’s garages and parking lots, where transactions surged 2.5% year-over-year. Fast forward to 2025, and the momentum has only accelerated: search interest for these utilitarian spaces has skyrocketed 13% in the first ten months alone, according to Casa.it data. The numbers paint a vivid picture of urban scarcity meeting investor appetite.

The National Picture: €31,000 for a Parking Spot

Across Italy, the average parking space or garage commands €30,928—approximately €1,539 per square meter for a typical 20-square-meter space. That represents a 3.3% annual appreciation, outpacing many traditional asset classes.
Strip away the eight major metropolitan areas, however, and the story changes. In secondary markets, prices moderate to €26,745, with per-square-meter costs dropping to €1,297—a more modest 0.8% annual increase. The takeaway? Italy’s parking premium is overwhelmingly an urban phenomenon.

Naples Reigns Supreme

Among Italy’s population heavyweights, Naples tops the parking hierarchy at a staggering €77,029 average. It’s a figure that reflects both the city’s notorious parking scarcity and the premium residents place on automotive convenience.
Florence claims silver at €51,877, while Bologna rounds out the podium at €42,735. Genoa (€42,248) and Milan (€42,060) hover just above the €42,000 threshold, with Rome surprisingly landing in sixth at €41,173. Palermo and Turin bring up the rear at €33,348 and €23,965, respectively.

The Micro-Markets: Where Location Is Everything

Within these cities, neighborhood disparities tell their own stories. Rome’s Centro Storico commands the highest prices among all analyzed zones—a jaw-dropping €195,903 average that underscores the historic center’s parking scarcity. Meanwhile, Turin’s Barca-Bertolla neighborhood offers entry at just €13,593, creating a 14-to-1 price differential within the same metropolitan analysis.
In Naples, the seaside elegance of Chiaia-Mergellina justifies €136,583 average prices, while the peripheral Pianura neighborhood settles at €35,135. Milan’s prestige core—Centro, Duomo, and Brera—fetches €75,627, contrasting sharply with the €22,662 asked in Gallaratese-QT8-Trenno.

Investment Thesis or Urban Necessity?

The surge in parking space transactions reflects a convergence of factors: chronic urban undersupply, limited new construction of parking infrastructure, and growing recognition of these assets’ steady appreciation potential. For investors, parking spaces offer lower entry points than residential units while generating rental income or serving as inflation hedges.
For urban dwellers, the calculus is simpler: in cities where street parking resembles a contact sport, owning a dedicated space isn’t luxury—it’s necessity priced accordingly.
As Italian cities continue densifying without proportional parking expansion, expect this trend to accelerate. The garage, it seems, has become Italy’s unlikely real estate battleground.

Source: Monitor Immobiliare