OMI (Osservatorio del Mercato Immobiliare)

The Real Estate Market Observatory, a branch of the Agenzia delle Entrate that publishes semi-annual estimates of property values and rents for each zone of Italian municipalities. The quotazioni OMI give a range of prices (min–max €/m²) for various property types (residential, commercial, etc.) in different neighborhoods (zones) in each city or town, based on transactions. While not official appraisals, OMI values are widely used as a reference by banks, notaries, and investors to gauge market value. They are available online for free. For example, OMI might say that in Zone “Centro” of a town, apartments in normal condition trade between €2,000 and €2,500 per m². When determining tax values for imposta di registro, usually the cadastral value is used, not OMI, but OMI is useful in negotiations and checking that a declared sale price is in line with market (an excessively low price might draw tax scrutiny unless justified). Essentially, OMI is the Italian real estate price guide published by the government.