Price per square metre, the gap between lagoon and mainland, taxes and local rules: what you need to know to buy in Venice in 2026.
Venice is the most expensive city in Veneto to buy a home, by a long way. In the second quarter of 2026, listings for existing homes in the municipality asked an average of €4,958 per square metre according to the Idealista portal, against €2,746 in Verona and €2,437 in Padua. But the municipality of Venice combines two very different markets: the historic centre on the lagoon, where prices exceed €5,000/m², and the mainland around Mestre, where they fall to around €2,000/m².
The historic centre is divided into six sestieri: Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce and San Marco, plus islands such as the Giudecca. Here is what properties are worth, how prices are changing, what buying costs in taxes, and the points specific to Venice to check before signing.
The two big Italian portals do not give the same figure, because they do not have the same stock of listings. In April 2026, according to VeneziaToday:
The gap comes from the make-up of supply: the more listings a portal has in the historic centre, the higher its average. What matters for you is the gap by zone: over €5,000/m² in the historic centre, around €2,000/m² on the outskirts. The same budget therefore buys two to three times the floor area on the mainland.
Venetian prices are rising, but more slowly than in other cities. In the second quarter of 2026, asking prices rose by 1.2% over three months in the city of Venice, against 3.9% in Verona, which hit a record. Across Veneto as a whole, the rise is 1.6% over the quarter and 8.2% over one year, for an average price of €1,918/m², close to the national average (€1,903/m²).
Across Italy, the official Istat index, based on actual sales, shows a rise of 4.0% over one year in the second quarter of 2026: +5.0% for new homes and +3.7% for existing ones, with a slowdown compared with the previous quarter. The number of home sales is almost stable (+0.1% over one year according to the Real Estate Market Observatory of the Agenzia delle Entrate).
According to the Agenzia delle Entrate's Rapporto Immobiliare 2026, Veneto recorded 67,159 home sales in 2025, up 5.2% over one year, or 8.8% of the national total. The average value of a sale there is estimated at €171,000, for a total of about €11.5 billion exchanged over the year.
No recent public source gives reliable prices by sestiere; the gaps depend mostly on the exact location, the floor and the condition of the building. A few qualitative benchmarks:
In Italy, the taxes due on purchase depend on the seller and on how the property is used. According to the Agenzia delle Entrate guide (October 2025):
For a purchase between private individuals, the tax can be calculated on the cadastral value of the property rather than on the price, which often reduces it significantly. The prima casa benefit requires you to have your residence in the municipality of the property, or to move it there within 18 months of the purchase; it is therefore not suitable for a second home. Add the notary's fees, as the notary drafts and registers the deed.
Many buyers consider renting to tourists for part of the year. As of June 2026, Venice had still not adopted a municipal regulation: the 2024 proposal, which notably provided for a register for renting more than 120 days a year, did not go through, nor did a plan for a two-year moratorium on new rentals. The matter now falls to the new municipal government, under pressure from associations calling for stricter rules. Buy on the assumption that the framework may tighten.
In the historic centre, most properties are old. Before making an offer, have the condition of the building checked, along with the works voted by the co-owners and the exposure to high water, particularly for a ground-floor unit. Any renovation must take heritage protection rules into account.
A Remoters home finder based in Venice can select properties, visit them for you, compare prices with the area and support you through to the deed at the notary. The first conversation and the quote are free.
Short answers to the questions our readers ask, written to stand on their own.
Sources cited in this article
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