Almost 1 in 3 houses in Italy is unoccupied says Istat

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 1 - Almost one in three homes in Italy, 27.2%, is unoccupied, Istat said in a report on Thursday.
    The national statistics agency added that the level was this high even though the overall number of occupied homes increased by 6.4% between 2011 and 2021.
    It said the majority of the empty homes were in southern Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, although the region with the highest level is the Aosta Valley in the north.
    Lombardy, on the other hand, has the highest density of housing, with 234.7 homes per square kilometre, compared to a national average of 116.8.
    Istat said 56.3% of Italy's residential properties were built between 1961 and 2000, while 9.5% are over 100 years old.
    Liguria, Tuscany and Piedmont are the regions with the oldest homes. (ANSA).