Tag: deeds

Property Developers Ask for the Deeds to be Signed for Finished Homes on the Coast Worth €2.5 Billion

Residential property developers on the coast have asked the Government to relax the rules on mobility so that the deeds can be signed on finished properties worth €2.5 billion.

Residential property developers on the coast have asked the Government to relax the rules on mobility so that the deeds can be signed on finished properties worth €2.5 billion.

Despite efforts to complete procedures online, the current lockdown situation is delaying the signing of the final deeds for many properties. Representatives from the residential tourism sector in Alicante held a meeting by video call this weekend with the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, to convey the situation in the sector and to request support from the Administration to complete the value chain.

Spain’s Large Property Developers Handed Over Just 3,000 Homes in 2017

2 February 2018 – Expansión

Market / The property developers Amenabar, Aelca and Corp take the lead in the race to notarise new homes.

The property developers have returned to the forefront after years of ostracism. In this way, two companies, Neinor and Aedas, debuted on the stock market in 2017, putting an end to the 10-year drought. Meanwhile, a historical company in the sector, Metrovacesa, is planning its stock market debut for Monday (5 February), and is waiting to close the requests book.

These companies, together with the other large property developers such as Vía Célere, Aelca and Habitat (all three of which are controlled by investment funds) have set themselves the objective of handing over between 3,000 and 4,000 homes per year, something that they will achieve over the next 2-4 years. Nevertheless, for the year just ended (2017), the figures recorded were much more modest.

According to data facilitated by the companies, the 13 largest residential property developers notarised an average of 270 new homes each last year. Together, they handed over just 3,168 units, compared with the more than 77,500 newly-built homes that were sold (according to data as at November from INE).

Amenabar is the leader of the ranking for the number of homes handed over. The property developer owned by the Amenabar family closed 2017 with 752 homes notarised. This year, that company, which is headquartered in Zarautz plans to start work on around 3,094 homes and to sell 4,087 units.

Of those properties for sale, approximately half correspond to land in the portfolio and the rest to new purchases to be made over the coming months, say sources at the company.

With almost 500 units each, Aelca and Corp Promotor complete the top three firms in terms of the number of homes notarised, with 498 and 496, respectively. Founded in 2012 by José Juan Martín and Javier Gómez, and controlled by Värde Partners (75% stake), Aelca is one of the new real estate companies and it has a more advanced pace of work. In this way, it plans to launch almost 4,000 homes across almost 50 new developments during 2018. In 2017, Aelca sold 1,128 homes.

Meanwhile, with 360 flats registered, Gestilar also stands out. The Madrilenian company created by Javier García-Valcárcel closed sale and purchase or pre-reservation contracts for another 419 homes in 2017, up by 57% compared to 2016. The company controlled by its founder does not have any immediate plans to debut on the stock market. Nevertheless, it has closed an alliance with one of Morgan Stanley’s investment funds to boost its plans to buy land and subsequently develop it.

Neinor

With a figure of more than 300 units (between 310 and 315, according to the latest estimates from the company), Neinor Homes has accelerated its house building plans to fulfil its business plan, which aims to put between 3,500 and 4,000 homes per year on the market between now and 2020.

Those hand overs will allow Neinor to increase its revenues, which, during the first half of last year, amounted to €127 million, after the hand over of 150 units.

It was followed by Inbisa, with 223 notarisations, and Vía Célere, with 183. The real estate firm led by Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado handed over two developments in Madrid and part of a third on c/Aragó in Barcelona, its first project in the Catalan capital.

In the absence of year-end data, during the first three quarters of last year, Realia handed over 80 homes amounting to €16.9 million (around €212,000 per unit), compared with 69 and €13.4 million in the previous year.

Less than ten each

Finally, three of the largest domestic property developers are operating at a  much slower rate. Such is the case of Quabit, which notarised just six homes in 2017, although it is expected to reverse that situation this year, after closing new land purchases, including co-investment alliances with the fund Avenue Capital. In this way, it plans to hand over 215 units in 2018, corresponding to four developments in Boadilla, Barcelona and Guadalajara, and also start work on around 2,000 new homes, confirms the company.

In the case of Habitat, the company did not notarise any homes in 2017, a year that was marked by its own sale, formalised by Bain Capital Credit just a few weeks ago. Now, the fund is working to boost the company, which is planning to hand over its first homes in 2018, of the more than 1,000 that it has up for sale.

The same thing is happening with Aedas. Launched in 2016, the company controlled by the fund Castlelake plans to hand over its first 231 homes this year.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Notaries: House Sales Rose By 20% In H1 2016

16 August 2016 – Expansión

House sales grew by 19.6% during the first half of the year, to amount to 225,551 transactions, thanks to a boost from second hand flat sales, according to statistics published by the General Council of Notaries. In other words, there were 1,239 transactions per day during H1 2016. These results represent the highest increase since the historical series was first compiled, back in 2007.

Moreover, these figures exceed the official ones, provided by INE last week, which reported 207,116 transactions between January and June, with an increase of 16.4% with respect to 2015 levels. This discrepancy is due to the fact that the General Council of Notaries obtains its sales data from the public deeds signed by notaries, whereas INE waits until sales have been recorded in the registry, which means a delay of one or two months.

In this way, 153,631 second-hand flats were sold between January and June, which represents a 19.29% increase compared with last year; such properties accounted for a third (68.1%) of all homes sold during the period. This data contrasts with the sale of new homes, which amounted to just 15,675 units during the first half of the year, representing a decrease of 13.6% compared to a year earlier.

The rest of the market was completed by other assets, such as plots of land, whose sales volumes rose by 12.1% YoY. It is worth highlighting that sales of buildable land grew significantly (by up to 33.2% in certain months), which shows the interest from property developers in starting new projects, as they sense a significant recovery in the real estate market.

Similarly, there is another trend: second hand homes are forming an increasingly larger part of the market. Thus, during the first half of the year, the sale of second hand homes accounted for ten times the sale of new homes, according to data from the notaries. This trend was maintained in June, when overall house sales rose by 7.1%, boosted by an 11.2% increase in second-hand home sales (29,052 units), compared with a drop of 33.4% in new homes sales (2,751 homes).

Prices

Price may be a key factor behind these differences, given that many owners of second-hand homes are still being forced to make large discounts, whilst those selling new homes (banks and property developers, in many cases) are able to wait a while before selling. (…).

At the end of June, the average price of a second-hand home stood at €1,418/sqm, which represented an increase of 6.1% compared with a year ago (€1,336/sqm). Meanwhile, in the case of new homes, at the end of the first half of the year, the average price amounted to €1,886/sqm, up by 12.7% compared with June 2015 (€1,673/sqm). As such, the average variation in house prices amounted to 7.5%. (…).

Finally, according to the statistics published by the notaries, 44.7% of the homes sold in June were financed using a mortgage with an average loan of €128,480, up by 0.4% compared with last year. These figures represent an increase of 13.3% in June with respect to the same month last year, with 18,904 new loans granted during the month.

Original story: Expansión (by P. Cerezal)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hotel Las Palomas Sold To Palia Hotels For €13.1M

18 April 2016 – Diario Sur

On Thursday, the iconic Las Palomas Hotel in Torremolinos was awarded in an auction to Palia Hotels, a Mallorcan chain that already runs another property on the Costa del Sol, the former Roc de Benalmádena Costa (now called Hotel Palia La Roca). The Balearic group has committed to pay €13,100,000 for the property and its main facilities with the aim of renovating them and reopening the hotel. The auction was conducted in person in the presence of a notary and was “very exciting”, according to the lawyer Ana Alonso, the bankruptcy administrator of the company that used to operate Las Palomas. “Four candidates were involved and the two highest offers were selected to participate in the final phase, and the bids then gradually increased”, she explained. It was such a close bid that the losing company, also Mallorcan based, offered €13,050,000.

Palia will now have to wait for a month for the acquisition deeds to be signed. If any problems arise with the buyer during that period, then the company that offered the second highest bid would have the opportunity to purchase the property. For Alonso, the result is definitely “good news”, given that the money obtained from the auction will be used to pay off the debts with the Tax Authorities, Social Security, the Town Hall of Torremolinos (which will receive €3.5 million for the IBI that the hotel owed and the profit from the sale) and the employees.

Yesterday, (the trade union) Comisiones Obreras expressed its satisfaction because “the almost 100 staff will receive their salaries and compensation payments” after four years of waiting. The total liabilities of the bankrupt company amount to around €15 million. Alonso said that every effort will be made to ensure that the ordinary creditors will also be repaid. However, the senior creditors will have to accept a discount of some kind for that to happen. “We were locked inside the hotel around the clock between June 2012 and June 2015. Our only aim was to keep our jobs and prevent the terrible management of the Puche family from dragging the workers and the hotel into ruin”, said José Quintana, member of the company’s Board.

The buyer will have to invest between €3 million and €6 million on the renovation work before it reopens the hotel, according to Ana Alonso. The four-star Las Palomas Hotel filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and for liquidation in April 2013.

Original story: Diario Sur (by Nuria Triguero)

Translation: Carmel Drake