Cagliari is among the university cities where single-room rental prices have risen the most over the past six years (from March 2020 to March 2026). The Sardinian capital recorded a 58% increase, second only to Bari (+59%) .
Six years ago, renting a single room in Cagliari cost an average of 283 euros a month, today it is 449 .
This is revealed by a study by Immobiliare.it Insights, a proptech company led by Luke Brucato, specializing in market analysis and data intelligence and part of the Immobiliare.it group.
The most expensive city remains Milan (729 euros), followed by Florence (625), Rome (609) and Bologna (599) . Padua closes the top 5, even if, with its 490 euros per month, it remains far behind the first four cities.
On the other hand, two Sicilian capitals, Messina and Catania, are the least expensive, with an average asking price of 284 euros per month for both . The third least expensive city is Perugia (300), ahead of Palermo (309) and Udine (310).
The cities hosting the country's ten mega-state universities, with over 40,000 students, saw single room prices increase by an average of 41% between March 2020 and March 2026, a full 10 percentage points higher than the increase for studio apartments in the same cities over the same period. The two most significant increases occurred in Bari and Palermo, which recorded +59% and +55% respectively. Padua and Florence came in third, with both +46%. Just outside the top three was Turin (+45%) , while in Rome prices rose by 40%. Bologna, Naples, and Milan also showed significant increases, between 30% and 40%. The least significant change was recorded in Pisa, where the cost of a single room increased by 16% over the period analyzed .
Looking at other major state universities, increases in the prices of single rooms over the last six years stand at +31% , and are therefore on average less marked than those recorded in the cities of mega-universities. , while elsewhere no other increases above +40% have been noted. . All cities where cost growth over the last six years has been decidedly less marked.
