Lake prices: what the OMI values say, and what they do not

Every half-year the Agenzia delle Entrate's Property Market Observatory (OMI) divides each municipality into homogeneous zones and, for each zone and type (standard homes, economy homes, upmarket homes, villas and detached houses), publishes a minimum and a maximum value in euros per square metre¹. It does so on the basis of deeds, asking prices and its own surveys.

Three things to know before using them:

• They are estimates, not prices. They are neither the average nor the median of sales: they are a range within which the Agenzia places the normal values for the zone. The Agenzia itself warns that they do not replace the valuation of a specific property.
• Gross floor area. All the values for the lake refer to gross (commercial) floor area, walls included.
• Normal state. On the lake only the prevailing state of repair, «normal», is valued. A villa renovated as new on the lakefront can fall outside the range, above; one needing work, below.

When a type is missing in a zone, it means OMI does not value it because the market is not significant: not that it is worth zero.

Thirteen municipalities, all zones with at least one value for standard homes or villas and detached houses. The change is calculated by us at the midpoint of the range: it measures how far OMI moved its estimate, not how sales went¹.

Extracted from the public consultation service on 6 October 2026; licence CC BY 4.0, «Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI». The zones are described by the Agenzia in words: the boundaries can only be downloaded from the restricted area². Legro is in Orta's zone C1 (which names it), Ronco in Pella's E1; for Vacciago no Ameno zone names it.

• Multiplying is not enough. 200 m² times the maximum for the Orta lakefront gives a number, not a price: view, lake access, boathouse, garden and the state of the systems move the value more than any coefficient.
• Gross against net. A listing that says «180 m²» may mean net floor area: compare it with a gross OMI value and the price per square metre will look higher than it is.
• Broad zones. A «peripheral» or «hillside» zone groups very different houses. On the lake the difference between the first and second row can be worth more than moving from one zone to another.
• The lag. The 2nd half of 2025 is the latest published as of 6 October 2026: it looks back almost a year.

To estimate how many square metres a budget buys, municipality by municipality, there is the tool What your budget buys; for the range of a specific house, What is my home worth.

In Slovenia the public register of sales shows the price of almost every deed and can be downloaded freely: on SloveniaVillas we derive medians from it. In Italy the closest equivalent is the Agenzia delle Entrate's «Consultazione valori immobiliari dichiarati» (declared property values) service³, and it works differently:

• it requires authentication with SPID, CIE or CNS (or Fisconline/Entratel credentials);
• it shows the deeds of the last five years one at a time, on a map;
• it offers no bulk download and states no open licence on the page.

Deriving medians from it would require manual collection and a check of the terms of use. We do not use credentials on anyone's behalf: this is why, today, we do not publish sale prices for the lake.

The number of sales for each municipality (municipal NTN) can also be downloaded free of charge and under an open licence, but only from the restricted area of the OMI data supplies². Anyone with a digital identity can do it themselves.

Finally there is the cadastral value, which is used for taxes: under the price-value rule (prezzo-valore) registration tax is paid on it and not on the price⁵. It is a fiscal value, very far from the market, and must not be used to value a house.

For context, the Agenzia publishes in open form the number of normalised transactions (NTN) of homes, but only for the provincial capital and for all the other municipalities of each province combined⁴. Lake Orta lies across two provinces: Novara (Orta, Pettenasco, Pella, San Maurizio d'Opaglio, the hills and the southern end) and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (Omegna, Nonio, Quarna Sopra, Madonna del Sasso).

These are dozens of municipalities, almost all far from the lake: they say the provincial market has moved, not how many houses were sold on the shores.