The cedolare at 10% is so low — why is the net still only about 2%?

Because the 10% (or 21%) is levied on gross rent with no expense deductions: the rent is first cut by running costs (about 25%) and IMU, then taxed on the uncut gross. Lay the three lines out — gross rent of about EUR 13,000, running costs and IMU of about EUR 5,300, flat tax of EUR 1,300–2,700 — and EUR 5,000–7,000 remains. The lowness is not in the tax rate but in the base: EUR 324,000 of all-in capital against EUR 13,000 of gross rent is a 4% starting gross yield, and no tax regime rescues that to a 5% net.

An agent told me foreigners can't use the cedolare secca and must pay progressive IRPEF — true?

No. The tax's conditions contain no residency requirement: a non-resident individual landlord with a codice fiscale who files in Italy may elect it (the Agenzia delle Entrate's guidance basis). The agent's claim likely upgrades 'non-resident filing is a hassle' into 'non-residents are ineligible' — the hassle is real (a local fiscalista, an Italian account), the ineligibility is false. This page models it as available, one of the items this site verified line by line.

Milan prices will rise — does the low rent really matter?

That is the capital-growth ledger, which sits outside this site's cash-flow ledger — this site takes no view on Italian appreciation (that Milan is Italy's strongest city market is not in dispute). One piece of arithmetic only: held at about 2% net rent, appreciation must carry the entire return plus round-trip friction of 12%+; the same euros in IGD are a discount exposure of EUR 1.8B of property against a EUR 0.4B market cap. Both ledgers are lawful — recognise which one you are buying before you pay; that is this site's uniform closing line on every direct-property explainer.

Opportunity rank #99 (cash-flow board) · Italy

Milan buy-to-let, fully costed: Italy's highest rents still net only about 1.5–2.5%

Our take: Below the bar

1.5–2.5% Milan residential buy-to-let net yield (site derivation) · Operator estimate · Data as of: 2026-10-31

Composite-board score: 3.2 · Where it is strong: Stability & rule of law, Net cash flow · methodology

Data updated: 2026-11-08

This site costs Milan direct property to the bottom (60 sqm, long-term let, a non-resident landlord; every input labelled by nature): purchase at a portal median asking price of EUR 4,810/sqm, about EUR 289,000 (portal basis), with acquisition taxes and fees of about +12% (buying from a private seller, registration tax is 9% of cadastral value — the cadastral value, not the price — plus notary and agency) for an all-in capital of about EUR 324,000. Rent is taken from Idealista's asking average of EUR 22.4/sqm/month (Q3 2026, the highest of any Italian provincial capital), haircut to an achievable basis of about EUR 18/sqm (the regulated canone concordato caps part of the high-demand stock) — about EUR 13,000 a year. Then the deductions: running costs (co-ownership charges, maintenance, voids, management) at about 25% of rent; IMU at about EUR 2,000 a year (a base rate of 0.86%, raisable by municipalities to 1.06%, with Milan at the top of the band, and cadastral bases varying sharply property by property); and the cedolare secca at 21% on gross rent — it replaces income tax and registration tax but allows no expense deductions at all (a qualifying concordato lease cuts it to 10%, the model's one genuine lever). The net lands at EUR 5,000–7,000, about 1.5–2.2% of all-in capital, printed as 1.5–2.5% (operator estimate: the rent input is portal asking rents haircut, and this site captured no official OMI achieved-rent series). Two commonly misstated points are pinned: first, the cedolare secca IS available to non-resident individual landlords (residency is not a condition — a codice fiscale and an Italian filing are) — 'foreigners can't use the flat tax' is wrong; second, the 2% prima casa registration rate is effectively closed to a non-resident who will not transfer residence, so acquisition must not be costed at 2%. The identity value is zero: the investor visa's four routes (EUR 2M government bonds / EUR 500k company capital / EUR 250k start-ups / EUR 1M philanthropy) contain no property route, and no value of Milan flat buys a residence right. Add Italy's procedural reality: eviction timelines measured in years, and cadastral bases that can make two flats on one street pay different IMU and registration tax. Verdict: below-bar explainer — placed beside IGD (entry No. 98), it is Italy's most honest comparison: in one country, the listed name offers a discount story and the direct flat offers 2% of manual work.

In short: four lines first

What it costs to get in

About EUR 324,000 all-in for 60 sqm

Roughly what it earns

1.5–2.5%（Milan residential buy-to-let net yield (site derivation)）

How much work for you

Heavy burden (codice fiscale, Italian filing, local management, slow evictions)

The biggest catch

The numbers that matter

Milan residential buy-to-let net yield (site derivation)

1.5–2.5%

Operator estimate As of: 2026-10-31 Source: Milan rent guide (Idealista index, Q3 2026): Milan asking rents of EUR 22.4/sqm/month, the highest of any Italian provincial capital (portal asking basis, not signed rents)

Why we think it makes money

Milan is the only Italian city worth costing (the highest rents, the deepest liquidity) — costing the strongest city to 1.5–2.5% gives the whole Italian direct-property proposition an upper-bound proof.

The cedolare secca's two misstatements (unavailable to non-residents; expenses deductible) are pinned and costed in one place: 21% levied on gross rent with no deductions — the flat tax's 'flat' cuts both ways.

Cadastral-value taxation (registration tax and IMU share the base) is Italy's unique costing trap: two flats on one street can carry materially different tax bases — this page attributing half its range width to the cadastre is an operational warning to anyone viewing property on the ground.

How to actually get in

This page is a costing explainer and offers no purchase route. The institutional facts, for self-verification: foreigners buy without restriction; a codice fiscale, an Italian bank account and a local fiscalista are needed; lease registration and the cedolare election are set at signing, and concordato applicability follows the municipal agreement.

What it costs, what it earns

Entry amount: About EUR 324,000 all-in for 60 sqm
How much work for you: Heavy burden (codice fiscale, Italian filing, local management, slow evictions)

Costs & taxes, item by item:

Round-trip friction: about 12% in (registration tax at 9% of cadastral value plus notary and agency), with agency and taxes again on exit — five to eight years of after-tax rent on a 2%-net asset.
IMU's annual recurrence and cadastral uncertainty: without checking the rendita catastale before purchase, IMU can come in well above the model — and it comes every year.

Basis: this site uses full-cost net returns only — income minus vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes and insurance, then financing interest, with entry costs in the denominator. See the methodology。

Identity & tax

Status (residency / citizenship)

投资者签证无地产路径（已确认）

This asset does not count toward the channel No status channel

Threshold: 国债 €200 万 / 公司资本 €50 万 / 创新初创 €25 万 / 慈善 €100 万

意大利投资者签证（Legislative Decree 286/1998 art. 26-bis，Law 232/2016 设立）只有四条合格路径：€200 万意大利国债、€50 万意大利运营公司资本（2024-12 起含风投基金）、€25 万注册创新初创、€100 万公共利益慈善捐赠——房地产购买在任何金额下都不是合格投资。买房、买 IGD 股份都不产生居留权。

Source: investorvisa.mise.gov.it；art. 26-bis

Tax (investor level)

cedolare secca：对毛租金的替代平税 21%（合格 canone concordato 租约 10%）——替代 IRPEF、登记税与印花税，但不许扣任何费用；非居民个人房东可用（须 codice fiscale 并在意大利申报）。

IMU 市政房产税：基础税率 0.86%（按地籍基数），市镇可上调至 1.06%，米兰在高位——逐物业以市镇决议为准。
购入税：向私人买按「价格-价值」制对地籍值征 9% 登记税（2% 的 prima casa 对不迁入居留的非居民实际关闭）；向开发商买为 10% 增值税。cedolare 之外的租约另有年租金 2% 的登记税。

Double-tax treaties: 租金按来源地在意大利纳税；条约不改变上述国内制度的适用。

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate cedolare 指引（经二手指南追踪，费率以官网为准）

This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.

Risks: what could go wrong

This entry is itself the conclusion: a net of 1.5–2.5% with a single asset, slow evictions and heavy hand-holding fails as a foreign landlord's cash flow; its working readings are own use and euro capital parking, outside this site's scoring dimensions. If these happen, our take changes: If an official OMI achieved-rent series is obtained showing Milan's achievable long-let rents materially above the haircut-asking basis, this site recosts and says so.

The concordato cap cuts both ways: it grants the 10% flat-tax rate and caps rents by agreement in high-demand areas — costing with the 21% tier's free rents and then closing with the 10% tier's tax rate is Milan material's most common stitching error; this page costs the two tiers separately. If these happen, our take changes: Follows the current municipal agreement parameters where a lease is signed.

Tenant process risk: recovery timelines in Italy are measured in years, and one bad tenancy can consume several years of net income — a 2% cushion has no room for it. If these happen, our take changes: None (procedural fact).

What we have not verified yet

The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.

No official OMI zone-level achieved-rent series was captured: this costing uses Idealista asking rents, haircut, as its rent input (operator estimate) — verify any real property against OMI zone values and local agents' signed-lease samples.
Milan's current municipal IMU rate follows the municipality's annual deliberation (this page models the top band, 0.86–1.06%); the cedolare's 2026 details (short-let multi-unit business treatment and the like) follow the Agenzia delle Entrate's site.

FAQ

The cedolare at 10% is so low — why is the net still only about 2%?: Because the 10% (or 21%) is levied on gross rent with no expense deductions: the rent is first cut by running costs (about 25%) and IMU, then taxed on the uncut gross. Lay the three lines out — gross rent of about EUR 13,000, running costs and IMU of about EUR 5,300, flat tax of EUR 1,300–2,700 — and EUR 5,000–7,000 remains. The lowness is not in the tax rate but in the base: EUR 324,000 of all-in capital against EUR 13,000 of gross rent is a 4% starting gross yield, and no tax regime rescues that to a 5% net.
An agent told me foreigners can't use the cedolare secca and must pay progressive IRPEF — true?: No. The tax's conditions contain no residency requirement: a non-resident individual landlord with a codice fiscale who files in Italy may elect it (the Agenzia delle Entrate's guidance basis). The agent's claim likely upgrades 'non-resident filing is a hassle' into 'non-residents are ineligible' — the hassle is real (a local fiscalista, an Italian account), the ineligibility is false. This page models it as available, one of the items this site verified line by line.
Milan prices will rise — does the low rent really matter?: That is the capital-growth ledger, which sits outside this site's cash-flow ledger — this site takes no view on Italian appreciation (that Milan is Italy's strongest city market is not in dispute). One piece of arithmetic only: held at about 2% net rent, appreciation must carry the entire return plus round-trip friction of 12%+; the same euros in IGD are a discount exposure of EUR 1.8B of property against a EUR 0.4B market cap. Both ledgers are lawful — recognise which one you are buying before you pay; that is this site's uniform closing line on every direct-property explainer.

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Data dates are marked per metric; page updated 2026-11-08. This site publishes information and is not investment advice; the corrections channel is in the Disclaimer。