Milan named Europe’s hottest luxury housing market: Prices surge ahead of the Winter Olympics

Cool climate, hot property.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicks off in two days and Milan’s luxury housing market has hit new peaks.

The Italian city, known for its cosmopolitan fashions, is Europe’s hottest luxury market, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A recent analysis by Knight Frank ranked Milan among the world’s 10 strongest markets in the past five years, rising above Australia’s coveted Gold Coast and India’s rapidly growing Mumbai.

Well-heeled Italians and foreign buyers favor sprawling penthouses in walkable city centers and country estates in Greater Milan’s idyllic suburbs, local luxury brokers told the Journal. 

Brera, a small enclave of apartments west of the city’s shopping district, is the city’s most expensive locale, the Journal reported. A duplex there set a new record for Milan when it sold for $28 million in 2025.

Penthouses with Alpine views are the name of the game in Milan proper, according to the outlet. It’s pricey suburban market attracts sales in the northern province of Monza and Brianza.

House hunters from the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands lead Milan’s cohort of foreign buyers, according to a 2025 report by Knight Frank.

Milan’s luxury reputation reaped in the benefits, leading to an overall uptick in sale prices. Prime residential prices in Milan rose 7% annually in the second quarter of 2025, far above any other European market, including Paris, Monaco, Madrid and Zurich.

Between the third quarters of 2020 and 2025, prices in Milan’s housing market’s highest end rose by roughly 38%, the Journal reported, citing Knight Frank analysis.

The buying power of $1 million in Milan decreased between 2014 and 2024 by 4%, according to the brokerage’s 2025 Wealth Report. Milan’s annual rise in residential prices in 2024 ranked just below the Hamptons, and just above Los Angeles 

Asking prices in the overall housing market have never been higher, the outlet reported, rising above all other Italian metros. 

Rapid price growth is underway in the city’s Scalo Romana neighborhood, where Milan’s $177 million Olympic Village is preparing to welcome thousands of international athletes this week.