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RE Investment Amounted To €8,500M In H1 2015

5 August 2015 – Cinco Días

The real estate market has been particularly active in H1 2015, as the new cycle of economic recovery gets underway. That was the main finding from the data published on Monday by the Association of Real Estate Consultants (‘Asociación de Consultoras Inmobiliarias’ or ACI), an organisation created in 2013 by the leading consultants in the sector.

If we exclude investment in housing, the volume of transactions amounted to €8,500 million during the first half of this year, whereas the figure reached just €3,500 million during H1 2014. As such, more than 2.4x as much money has been invested in Spain so far this year compared with the same period last year.

“The real estate market in Spain is showing strong signs of recovery, however we are seeing variations by asset, location and geography”, said Ricardo Martí-Fluxá, President of the ACI. “If we also consider that the fundamentals of the economy are indicating a clear, stable and sustainable upwards trend, then we can say that now is a great time for investors to acquire assets”, adds this career diplomat, who was the Secretary of State for Security in President José María Aznar’s first Government (PP).

“By type of investor, the Socimis and investment funds have been the most active purchasers, followed by private investors and property developers, amongst others”, according to a statement from the association. During H1 2015, 49% of all purchases were made by Socimis, followed by specialist investment funds (23%) and private investors (13%).

In fact, the Socimi Merlin Properties closed the largest transaction when it acquired Testa for €1,793 million, although the operation will be completed in several stages between now and 2016, when the Socimi will eventually acquire 100% of Sacyr’s former real estate company. Since the first Socimis debuted on the stock exchange just over a year ago, they have become key players in driving the recovery of the RE market.

Another one of these large firms is Hispania (in which the investor George Soros holds a stake), which invested €670 million between March last year and June this year. Meanwhile, Axiare has assets amounting to €571 million and Lar España has a target investment total of between €750 million and €850 million, which it plans to achieve during the coming months.

Original story: Cinco Días (by A. Simón)

Translation: Carmel Drake