Judicial auctions and vineyards: a €66 million business. Sicily leads the way

There were 244 vineyard lots auctioned off in Italy in 2023, with a total value of €66.6 million. This data is contained in the new report produced by the AstaSy study center of NPLs RE_Solutions (a company of the Rina group, a multinational operating in the real estate sector). In fact, residential properties are not the only "protagonists" of judicial auctions (which account for about 60% of the market, with a total value of over €12 billion in 2023), but there is also an 11% represented by land, particularly vineyards.

More lots in Sicily, more value in Tuscany

The highest number of vineyard lots for sale in 2023 is concentrated in Sicily, with 48 vineyards, followed by Puglia (34) and Tuscany (27). The study, based on the auction system, a system that provides updated data on real estate foreclosures to banks and servicers (the ones responsible for recovering debts), found that the highest value of assets at auction is in Tuscany, with values of nearly €24.6 million. Sicily ranks third with a total of €5.18 million. And Puglia ranks eleventh, with auctioned units totaling a value of €1.68 million. As seen from the graph below, considering values, Umbria is second (followed by Sicily, Campania, Lazio, and Marche): the central Italian region, ninth in terms of the number of lots at auction (11), boasts a significant total value of €9.26 million.

Auctions Vineyards - Italy 2023 - photo Centro studi Astasy analytics

In the courts of Pisa and Spoleto, the richest auctions

The judicial procedures with the highest-value assets currently for sale are attributable to the Courts of Pisa and Spoleto. In particular, in the municipality of Crespina Lorenzana (Pisa), where there is an agricultural company of 484 hectares, 24 of which are vineyards, valued at €11.4 million, with a production that includes chardonnay, vermentino, sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, trebbiano, and merlot. The other procedure, the second in value, is in Gualdo Cattaneo, Torri fraction, in the province of Perugia. The property was valued at €10.6 million, but a series of unsuccessful auctions, the last one at the end of 2023, reduced the auction base price to €3.15 million (minimum bid of the last session). It is a modern agricultural and wine company, with land mostly in Doc and Igt vineyards, and the rest in orchards, as well as arable land and woods, with a total area of ​​about 34 hectares.

The decrease in auctions is a sign of good health

The last survey by the Astasy study center on the sector dates back to 2019. In that year (pre-pandemic period), the vineyards auctioned off were as many as 1,142, almost five times the current quantity (244). According to analysts, the decrease in properties at auction represents "a positive decline, evidence of a sector, the wine industry, which is finding strength and determination again." From a real estate point of view, Massimiliano Morana, CEO of NPLs RE_Solutions, comments that the vineyard sector is "as interesting as it is peculiar and challenging. It is - he continues - an appealing type that can offer profitable investment opportunities, but it requires in-depth knowledge of the wine sector, including agricultural practices, cellar management, and market trends." Morana warns of the importance of considering the challenges and specific characteristics of the sector before engaging in this type of investment: "The costs associated with managing a vineyard, including labor, equipment, phytosanitary treatments, and maintenance, can be high."