First Home Tax Benefit: More Time to Sell Your Previously Owned Property

Good news for those who purchased a new home using the “first home” tax benefit but still owned a previous one: the time limit to sell the previously owned property has now been extended from 1 to 2 years.

This clarification comes from Italy’s Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) in its ruling no. 127 dated May 5, 2025. It confirms that the 2025 Budget Law (Art. 1, paragraph 116, Law no. 207/2024) doubled the resale deadline, and this extension also applies retroactively to purchases made before January 1, 2025, provided the original 1-year period had not yet expired as of December 31, 2024.

📌 In short:

• If you purchased a new home with the first-home tax benefits while still owning another property previously bought with the same benefits, you originally had 1 year to sell the first property to keep the tax break.

• Now, thanks to the new rule, you have 2 years to finalize the sale and still retain the benefit.

• This extension also applies retroactively: if by December 31, 2024, the initial 1-year period had not yet ended, the new 2-year deadline is applicable.

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⚖️ A bit of background

The “first home” tax benefit allows buyers, under certain conditions, to purchase a residential property with a reduced 2% registration tax. One of the key conditions is that the buyer must not already own another home purchased with the same benefit.

However, since 2016, it has been possible to purchase a new primary residence before selling the old one, as long as the old one is sold within a set time frame.

The 2025 reform acknowledges that one year may be too short to sell a home—especially in slow markets or with outstanding mortgages. Now, buyers get twice the time to sell without losing the tax advantage.

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