From recent surveys, the Italian provinces with the sharpest price decrease in the residential sector were Oristano, Isernia, Forli, Sondrio and Biella. By contrast, prices in the most sought-after cities such as Milan, Florence and Venice hold. The highest market demands are concentrated in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Palermo and Messina. Rising costs in large cities lead to increased sales in suburbs or small towns. In a country where real estate can lose up to 20 percent of its value due to inflation, involve a great deal of expenses and taxes, and where taking out a mortgage means creating a large debt with a bank, effectively “losing” or locking up liquidity that could be invested in something else, this idea of the easy and lucrative investment cannot exist…