AURA News Real Estate

BBVA Opens 2,000 m2 Multi-Channel ‘Boutique’ Branch on La Diagonal in Barcelona

17 April 2019 – Idealista

BBVA has just signed an agreement to open a ’boutique’ branch spanning more than 2,000 m2 on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona. The company will take over the premises from the property developer Corp.

The new branch will follow in the footsteps of those already opened by other banking groups such as CaixaBank, which has opened branches offering customised services for clients, including options such as coworking spaces and cafés.

The new spaces integrate the different channels (in person, remote and digital) on offer and provide a better experience for both customers and employees thanks to their open, transparent and better-designed layouts.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Ranking of the 20 Developers With the Largest Pipelines for Delivery over the Next Three Years

22 July 2017

The reawakening of the residential housing sector in Spain has brought with it a large group of developers that promise to build thousands of homes in the next three years. It is sometimes difficult to discover details, to find out which developer is behind each new project.

This analysis lists what the Spanish Coordinating Institute for Governance and Applied Economics, an independent research centre, has identified as the top 20 of the country’s largest real estate companies, ranked by the number of homes they will develop by 2020.

At the top of the list is Metrovacesa, a developer controlled by Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular, which in the next three years will bring 12,600 homes to the market and, considering Neinor, Aedas, Via Célere, Corp and Pryconsa, is the only company that already owns in its portfolio all the land needed to build the new homes.

In addition, the company headed by Jorge Pérez de Leza, controlled by three Spanish banking groups, is a break from the leadership of large international funds, which are behind the bulk of the companies that make up the top 20, and which are negotiating with local companies to purchase land together to meet their housing development projections.

To reach the tally of 80,000 houses in these companies’ development plans, the institute counted both current developments and those that can be developed in accordance with the available land and projected purchases of new land. The institute’s studies drew upon various sectoral sources.

Neinor Homes (Lone Star), expects to deliver 10,250 homes; Aedas Homes (Castlelake), 9,850; Via Célere (Värde), 6,200; and AELCA (Värde) forecasts 5,750 residential dwellings, complete the top five positions in a ranking where only two companies linked to the large listed construction groups appear: Acciona Real Estate with 4,500 dwellings and Realia (FCC) with 1,650.

Another company stands apart is the Catalan Corp, which is the only member of the ranking with no national presence and that focuses all its interests in its autonomous community, where it plans to develop 3,000 homes.

Among the new phenomena of the real estate development sector that stand out, in addition to the hegemony of large funds, is the family structure of many of the Spanish developers (Amenabar, Quabit, Pryconsa, Lar, Ibosa…); bank’s greater requirements for granting mortgage financing to local investors, with requirements such as down payments of more than 50%; and a focus on the customer.

An increase is expected in the number of developers that will be listed on the stock market, where in the short term there will be between eight and ten companies

“It is clear that the Spanish real estate development sector has learned from the crisis and now operates with completely different criteria. A key factor is a focus on the client, which for the first time in a long time has become an essential part of the real estate business. Developers who know how to connect with what the customer needs will be assured of survival in the market, and whoever does not will disappear, “says Jesus Sánchez Lambás, executive vice president of the Institute.

Among those that will survive, many will do so by listing on the stock market, where Neinor and Quabit can already found. Aedas, Via Célere and Metrovacesa are expected to join them in the short term. Even more should soon join them in the near future. The institute forecasts that eight to ten companies should be listed on the stock market in the short term.

Original Story: El Confidencial – R. Ugalde

Translation: Richard Turner

The Coordenadas Institute Ranks Spain’s Top 20 Property Developers

24 July 2017 – El Confidencial

The awakening of the residential sector in Spain has brought with it a large number of property developers, who are promising to construct thousands of homes over the next three years. The problem is in the detail, understanding who is going to promote each one of those homes.

That analysis is what the Coordenadas Institute of Governance and Applied Economics, an independent study centre, has just developed. It has identified the Top 20 largest companies in the country, ranked according to the number of homes that they are planning to construct between now and 2020.

At the top of the list is Metrovacesa, the property developer controlled by Santander, BBVA and Banco Popular, which is planning to bring 12,600 homes onto the market over the next three years and which, together with Neinor, Aedas, Vía Célere, Corp and Pryconsa are the only ones that already own all of the land they need to build these homes.

Moreover, the company led by Jorge Pérez de Leza and controlled by three Spanish entities, breaks the leadership ranks of the large international funds, which are behind the bulk of the companies that comprise this Top 20 and are already negotiating with local companies to tackle the purchase of land to allow them to achieve the current housing forecasts.

In order to complete the 80,000 homes that these companies plan to develop together, the Coordenadas Institute has taken into account both developments in progress, as well as those that may be developed on the available land and forecast new land purchases, which have been extracted from various sectoral sources.

Neinor Homes (Lone Star), with 10,250 homes; Aedas Homes (Castlelake), with 9,850; Vía Célere (Värde), with 6,200; and Aelca (Värde) with 5,750 homes, complete the first five positions in the ranking which contains just two companies linked to the large listed construction groups: Acciona Inmobiliaria, with 4,500 homes; and Realia (FCC) with 1,650.

Another company with a differential sign is the Catalan firm Corp, since it is the only member of the ranking that does not have a national presence, rather it focuses all of its efforts on its own autonomous region, where it plans to construct 3,000 homes.

Some of the main innovations in this new property developer sector, besides the hegemony of the large funds, are: the family structure of the bulk of the domestic property developers (Amenábar, Quabit, Pryconsa, Lar, Ibosa…); the greater demands on the banks to grant mortgage financing to local investors, with requirements such as having pre-sales of more than 50%; and the focus on the client.

“It is clear that the Spanish property development sector has learned some important lessons from the crisis and now operates with completely different criteria. A key factor is the focus on the client, which for the first time in a long time has become an essential piece of the real estate business. Property developers that know how to connect with what the client needs are going to be assured survival in the market; those who don’t know, will disappear”, said Jesús Sánchez Lambás, Executive Vice-President of the Coordenadas Institute.

Of those that survive, many will do so by making the leap onto the stock market, where Neinor and Quabit are already listed; they will soon be joined by Aedas, Vía Célere and Metrovacesa. Nevertheless, many more will follow in their footsteps, given that the institute forecasts that between eight and ten companies will be listed on the stock market within the short term.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

KKR Defies Sovereign Fears & Teams Up With Catalan Property Developer Corp

24 June 2016 – El Confidencial

One of the largest private equity funds in the world has arrived with a bang in the Catalan real estate market. KKR is finalising an agreement with the property developer Corp to invest together in new developments, according to three sources familiar with the talks. The agreement is pending the final signature only.

The operation represents a breath of fresh air for the Catalan real estate market, which in recent times, due to the sovereign crisis and the triumph of Ada Colau in Barcelona, has seen several international funds start to regard the region with distrust and give orders to concentrate their investments in Madrid. However, that tension seems to have now diminished.

The importance of these types of funds for domestic property developers is crucial, given that in the face of the shortage of bank financing and the gradual recovery in demand, they are teaming up on a large scale with these types of vehicles, which inject the money they need to build homes.

Although both Corp and KKR declined to comment, the sources consulted confirmed that the US fund is handling this operation through its recently created Real Estate fund for Europe, which has raised $739 million (around €655 million).

As a result of this operation, the firm led in Spain by Jesús Olmos, is redoubling its commitment to the real estate business, where its largest operation to date had been the purchase of a 5.4% stake in another high-profile property developer, Quabit, one of the great survivors of the crisis, which has started to set up its cranes again to build 476 homes.

Moreover, KKR held negotiations with Acciona to strengthen the ties that already bind them in the energy business, by also acquiring a stake in its real estate division, but it seems that that operation has been ruled out in the end. Moreover, two years ago, the firm hired Alejo Vidal-Quadras de Caralt to lead its office in Madrid and join the wave of funds investing in the domestic real estate business.

Property developer of the moment in Cataluña

Grupo Corp is one of the property developers of the moment in the Catalan market. Created in 2008 by Pedro Molina and Pau Castro, the two businessmen knew how to detect business opportunities at the height of real estate crisis that decimated the sector.

Bearing in mind the maxim that from great crises arise great opportunities, Molina and Castro took the wise decision to target the middle-class public, with modern designs and sustainable, high-quality homes, at affordable prices.

In fact, a snapshot of their properties could be summarised as homes measuring around 100 m2, with between two and four bedrooms, located in middle-class neighbourhoods and marketed at prices that range between €170,000 and €370,000.