In this paper we study the real estate markets in modern age in the city of Milan over the period 1570-1670. In particular, by using a unique dataset of more than 1,000 rental contracts signed over the period, we estimate a hedonic price index for the housing market which allows us to identify pure price changes from changes in qualitative attributes. This index also highlights the timing of early housing cycles in modern age and documents the rise of spatial spillovers across neighborhoods. Our data are from the records maintained by the Fabbrica del Duomo, which was the owner of the houses in our sample. In addition, and even more importantly, we find evidence of market power and clietelism as the status of tenants is found to be significantly and negatively correlated with rent.