Abstract

From the second half of last century, the service sector has grown increasingly in all advanced economies. Despite the relevant role of the sector, policy actions mostly relate to industrial and agricultural sector. This is largely due to major gap affecting the tertiary sector, in both qualitative and quantitative information. The paper aims to provide quantitative information to explain the role and weight of real estate sector within the Italian economy. The methodology used is based on input-output analysis, where the input-output tables have been built starting from the supply and using national accounts. The period considered is 1995-2007, with forecasts to 2010 and 2015. The analysis assesses the capability of real estate services and related sectors (financial intermediation, insurance, ancillary activities to financial intermediation and other professional activities) to stimulate the economy in terms of production, value added and employment. It shows in particular how, in the past twelve years, the Italian real estate sector has been characterized by a phenomenon of progressive financialisation in analogy to what happened in other countries that have experienced an earlier development of the sector.