176
176
  • Transaction / Assets
    Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments Sells 1,000-m2 Property in Madrid
  • Seller
    Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments
  • Buyer
    Catalan family office
  • € MM
    n/a

Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments Sells 1,000-m2 Property Next to Sagrada Familia

4 October 2018

The company owns by the Danish architect sold the building to a Catalan family office. The operation was concluded using a long-term sale & lease-back contract.

The market for tourist apartments us continuing to see an elevated level of activity in Barcelona. Eric Vökel Boutique Apartments, a company that specialises in the sector and which was founded by the Danish architect of the same name, just sold a 1,000-square-meter property next to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ​​according to sources with knowledge of the transaction.

The new owner of the building is a Catalan family office, which completed its acquisition of the asset with a long-term sale & lease-back contract and with a return just under 4%. The transaction, which was concluded for an undisclosed sum, was advised upon by the consultancy Valliance.

Eric Vökel intended to generate funds to undergird the firm’s planned international expansion while maintaining its presence in the Catalan capital, where it owns two other properties. One of those properties is also located near the Sagrada Familia, while the other is in the middle of Gran Vía.

Founded by the Danish architect Eric Vökel, the company was created in Barcelona after a trip by the Nordic executive to the Catalan capital, where he now lives. Outside of the Catalan capital, the company has boosted its portfolio through the acquisition of tourist apartments in Madrid, Hamburg, Amsterdam and, more recently, Copenhagen.

The residential tourism market is on an upswing in Barcelona. During the last Easter week, apartments of this type saw prices increases of 11.6%, according to a report from the apartment manager Hostmaker. The study estimated that the daily price that visitors paid for staying overnight in a home in the Catalan capital reached 115 euros.

Hostmaker has been one of the most active players in the sector in Barcelona in the last year and a half. The online platform plans to finish 2018 with 600 flats under management in the Catalan capital, quadrupling the size of its portfolio since 2017. The company also began operating in Madrid this year, EjePrime reported. Jaime de la Torre de Ysasi-Ysasmendi, who once worked at both Airbnb and Amazon, is the firm’s new general director as Hostmaker doubles down on its investments in the country.

Original Story: EjePrime – Jabier Izquierdo

Translation: Richard Turner