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JLL: Hotel Inv’t Amounted To €1,030M In First 7M 2016

3 August 2016 – Expansión

(…). Hotel investment in Spain amounted to €1,030 million during the 7 months to July 2016, which represents a 41% decrease compared with the same period last year. Nevertheless, it also represents the second highest figure recorded since 2007, according to a report prepared by JLL.

Specifically, as at 31 July this year, 81 (hotel) assets had been sold, for a combined investment volume of €1,030 million through 68 operations, compared with 92 assets sold as at July last year, with a combined investment volume of €1,752 million through 55 operations.

The most noteworthy operations so far this year have featured: Hotel Villa Magna, which was acquired by the Turkish group Dogus for an estimated €180 million; and Hotel Pullman Barcelona Skipper, which was purchased by the Saudí Royal Family for €90 million.

Excluding those two operations, Spanish investors accounted for 80% of the total volume invested in Spain.

In this vein, the most active investors in the hotel market have been the investment fund HI Partners (a subsidiary of Sabadell) and Hispania, which have completed transactions amounting to €110 million and €71 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, on the sell side, hotel groups have accounted for 41% of all hotel assets sold, followed by real estate companies (26%) and private investors (13%).

For Manuel Climent, Vice-President of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, the decrease in investment this year reflects, in part, the lower number of hotel portfolio transactions sold this year, after they soared in Spain in 2015.

Specifically, last year, up to eleven portfolios were sold, containing 74 hotels in total, for a combined investment volume of €1,450 million. So far this year, seven portfolios have been sold, containing 21 hotels and a combined investment of €174 million.

Climent forecasts that activity will intensify in terms of hotel portfolio transactions during the second half of the year, with HI Partners and Hispania leading the way.

For Climent, the moratorium in Barcelona has caused lots of investors who had purchased assets with a view to converting them into hotels, to become more cautious again. By contrast, some owners have put their hotel assets up for sale as they think that now is a good time to sell, given the lack of supply, which is raising prices in a space that is still very attractive for tourism.

The Vice-President of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group considers that, although some important transactions are expected to be closed before year end, total investment volumes will fall below last year’s record of €2,740 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

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