OMI Quotations: What They Are and How They Work

Navigating property prices per square metre, whether for a sale or purchase or simply to get an idea of rental prices in a certain area, can be very complex. The OMI quotations, provided by a dedicated observatory under the Italian Revenue Agency, are designed precisely for this purpose.

Published every six months, these quotations should not be confused with precise estimates of the value of individual properties, but they provide the official starting point for understanding the market and rental values of homes and land throughout Italy.

What are OMI property quotations?

The OMI quotations, published every six months by the Real Estate Market Observatory of the Italian Revenue Agency, indicate the market and rental values of properties and land located in municipalities included in the cadastral archives.

The property quotations provided by the Italian Revenue Agency indicate, for each territorial area of each municipality, a minimum-maximum range of the market value per square metre, based on property type and state of conservation (a parameter that does not apply to garages and parking spaces and which, in the case of commercial premises, should be understood as referring to the commercial location rather than the state of conservation of the property unit).

The value of properties, as provided by the Revenue Agency Observatory, is based on data extracted from property sale and rental agreements registered with the Agency itself, which are supplemented by direct surveys and statistical analyses.

Property prices, or rather the reference range for a specific type of property in a specific area, do not take into account characteristics that can significantly affect the actual price, such as the location or finishes of the property unit. OMI estimates, in fact, refer to the prevailing state of conservation in a given homogeneous area.

As the Agency itself specifies, “OMI quotations cannot be considered a substitute for a precise valuation, as they provide broad general indications of value. Only a valuation carried out by a professional expert can provide a comprehensive and fully effective representation and description of the property and justify the value attributed to it”.

OMI property valuations: what data do they provide?

OMI data are structured into different homogeneous aggregations, which are used to indicate “the value of the “wealth” potentially contained, on average and per unit of surface area, in the existing stock within a given territory (OMI zone)”. In particular, the Observatory indicates:

• Band: represents the territorial area within the municipal territory, which is divided into the following bands: central, semi-central, peripheral, suburban and extra-urban;
• Zone: within the same band, indicates an area with substantially uniform appreciation in terms of economic and socio-environmental conditions (centrality, availability of public services, transport, etc.);
• Intended use (residential, commercial, tertiary or productive);
• Building type: classifies buildings according to homogeneous distribution, organisational and functional characteristics;
• State of maintenance and conservation: indicates the general condition of the property (excellent, normal or poor), taking into account interior finishes and the efficiency of the technological systems present.

These subdivisions make it possible to estimate the market values of property rentals and sales.

OMI property quotations: what are they used for?

The real estate market quotations provided by OMI offer a reference estimate of the value per square metre of properties in approximately 8,000 municipalities, divided into more than 30,000 OMI zones. The purpose of these quotations, as specified by the Italian Revenue Agency, is to indicate an average market value, which can be used as a reference in various circumstances, including:

• Comparative market valuations;
• Court proceedings;
• Bank valuations;
• Checks and assessments of property transactions by the Italian Revenue Agency.

Real estate agents, surveyors, court-appointed technical experts and notaries, therefore, use OMI property quotation data on a daily basis. But the Observatory's estimates of property values are certainly also useful for property owners and buyers, who can get an initial general indication of prices per square metre before buying, selling or renting a property.

Online property valuation: where can you find OMI quotations?

OMI quotations for property prices per square metre can be consulted on the dedicated portal of the Italian Revenue Agency, by selecting Province, Municipality, Band and intended use. The online search returns a minimum-maximum range for sale values (€/sqm) and rental values (€/sqm x month).

By selecting the “Search on map” function, users can access the GEOPOI framework, which allows them to consult quotations by address, municipality and OMI zone through interactive navigation.

The Italian Revenue Agency interface is very convenient for those who want to get an idea of property prices before signing a rental agreement or completing a sale. Manual navigation, on the other hand, can be very time-consuming for professionals who need to extract OMI data in a more structured format, for example to carry out comparative valuations or statistical analyses. 

In these cases, specialised services can be used to provide datasets that can be integrated via API, offering advanced features such as cadastral income verification, analysis of actual property transactions and demographic statistics for areas of interest.