Demand for Luxury Homes Plummets in Barcelona & Soars in Madrid

23 November 2017 – Expansión

Since 1 October, demand for luxury homes has plummeted by 50% in Barcelona, with a 20% decrease in prices; meanwhile, demand has risen by 40% in the Spanish capital where prices have gone up by 10%.

Secessionism is sinking the Catalan real estate market due to the threat of uncertainty. “Demand for luxury housing has plummeted by 50% in Barcelona between 1 October and 15 November”, explains Emmanuel Virgoulay, Founding Partner at Barnes International in Spain. Whilst Barcelona falls, interest from buyers in these kinds of assets in Madrid is soaring by 40%, according to the real estate company that specialises in the premium segment.

“For every home for sale in Madrid, there are four buyers”. In Barcelona, by contrast, “the damage has already been done”, explained Virgoulay, referring to the unilateral referendum. That process has marked a before and after in the Catalan economy. The uncertainty has caused panic to spread throughout the markets, leading to the flight of more than 2,600 companies, causing the confidence of businessmen and consumers to collapse and paralysing investments. Housing, along with tourism, has been the most affected sector.

Before 1-O, Barcelona was enjoying its best moment since the crisis. The prices of high-standing properties were growing at a rate of 15%. However, since 1 October, the decrease in prices amounts to 20%. During the same month, the cost of these types of assets in Madrid has also moved by double digits, but in the opposite direction, with growth of 10%, like in the Balearic Islands. In Andalucía, the variation has been somewhat lower, between 5% and 10%, according to market sources.

In Barcelona, the rise in prices had generated a bubble. “Some owners were aligning the price of their properties with those in the most exclusive parts of other cities in Europe”, explained Virgoulay. However, investors “put the handbrake on” several months ago now. In October, there was a 50% decrease in the number of deeds signed for the sale and purchase of homes and mortgages, with buyers pulling out and preferring to lose their deposits, which can represent up to 10% of the purchase price, than going ahead with their purchases.

“Investors are going to come to Madrid because the market is safer”, explains Virgoulay. Currently, 57% of the luxury real estate acquisitions that are made in Spain take place in Madrid. The Spanish capital is the most attractive city for domestic and international investors alike. “The weight of the investor market is comparable with the market for primary residences”, he explains.

Looking ahead to year end, Virgoulay considers that, since the Government took action, with the application of Article 155, “the outlook is stable and demand has been starting to recover since 15 November”. But, 21 December is emerging as a new door to uncertainty “anything can happen once again”. Nevertheless, “Prices are going to rise, in general, but in Barcelona, it is clear that they are not going to evolve, they are going to fall”.

In Madrid, like in Barcelona, the average price of luxury housing amounts to €8,000/m2. In the Balearic Islands, where the main demand is from European buyers for second homes, the price per square metre amounts to €7,500/m2.

Barnes plans to open new offices in 2018 in locations such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. Cataluña was another one of its objectives, but, for the time being, no date has been set for that opening.

Original story: Expansión (by Inma Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake

International Funds Take Control Of Spain’s Real Estate Companies

6 November 2017 – Expansión

Together they own stakes worth €4.3bn / International funds and managers have become the largest shareholders of the listed companies in the sector. Seven of the top ten have foreign majority shareholders.

Seven of the ten large listed real estate companies are held in foreign hands. That is the new reality of the Spanish real estate market, which is enjoying a new period of growth ten years after the last boom.

Whilst during the previous upwards peak in the sector, the owners of the property companies were domestic businessmen, now it is the turn of the international funds to hold majority stakes in these companies in the sector. That is the case of the new leaders in the property developer sector: Aedas and Neinor Homes. These two companies made their stock market debuts this year, in October and March, respectively. In both cases, the property developers making their IPOs were owned by two large international funds: Lone Star in the case of Neinor; and Castlelake in the case of Aedas (…).

In the case of Aedas, which debuted on the stock market on 20 October with a valuation of €1.518 billion, two international firms became reference shareholders: T. Rowe Price, with a stake of almost 3.8%, and Fidelity Management and Research (FMR), with a 3.6% stake. It is not their first investment in a Spanish real estate company in either case. T. Rowe was one of the funds that participated in the IPO of the Socimi Axiare, in July 2015, acquiring a 9.7% stake; meanwhile, FMR is the third largest shareholder in another Socimi, Hispania, and in the property developer Neinor Homes. In the case of the latter, another international investor is the second largest shareholder, Wellington Management, which already owns 8.5% of the capital, worth around €120 million.

In the case of the traditional real estate companies, the status of the international funds varies. Realia (…) is currently controlled by Inversora de Carso, a firm owned by the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. In addition to the Mexican magnate’s stake (70.77%), Polygon Global own 10.5% and JP Morgan own 6.026% (…).

By contrast, two of the classic real estate companies on the stock market still have Spanish businessmen as their main shareholders: Quabit, whose largest shareholder is its President, Félix Abánades, with a 21% stake (…); and Renta Corporación, in which Dinomen, a company controlled by its President Luis Hernández, holds a 29.97% stake. In the latter real estate company, Baldomero Falcones also holds a stake, of more than 5%, making him the fourth largest shareholder.

Quabit’s second-largest shareholder is a Spanish company: Sareb. The public company holds a 7.66% stake in that firm (….). By contrast, the second largest shareholder in Renta is Morgan Stanley, with an 8.1% stake.

In total, foreign investors hold shares worth more than €4.343 billion in the five main Socimis and four largest property developers.

Spanish shareholders

(…), the number of domestic investors who control these types of companies is much lower, but they have a very prominent weight.

Such is the case of the banks Santander and BBVA, the largest shareholders in the largest real estate company on the Spanish stock market: the Socimi Merlin Properties. (…). Currently, Santander holds a 22.26% stake in that company, worth €1.162 billion, more than half of all Spanish investment in the ten largest listed real estate companies (around €1.8 billion). BBVA’s stake is worth around €336 million.

Alongside the two large Spanish banks, two real estate groups stand out as prominent investors in the listed companies in the sector. Such is the case of Colonial, which holds a stake worth €200 million in Axaire (…). Meanwhile, Colonial is controlled by three overseas investors, after Villar Mir reduced its stake.

Moreover, the real estate group Lar, controlled by the Pereda family, is the third largest shareholder of the Socimi Lar España, with a stake of more than 5.6% (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Herrero & Lebois Are Behind Madrid’s Latest Luxury Homes

14 June 2017 – Voz Pópuli 

The owner of Kiss FM, Blas Herrero and the Mexican investor Rodrigo Lebois have completed one of the most significant real estate operations of recent times in the Spanish capital. The two businessmen have spent around €50 million on the building located at number 11, Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, which they plan to convert into 15 luxury apartments measuring 300 m2 each.

According to sources close to the operation, the building has a surface area of 8,800 m2, with 1,000 m2 on each of its eight storeys. Until now, the property belonged to an aristocratic Asturian family and was authorised for residential and hotel use. During the sales process, the owners received nine offers: two from domestic investors and seven from overseas buyers, according to El Mundo.

The buyers plan to create three apartments per floor, and claim that they will be “the most luxurious homes in Madrid”. The building has a commercial premise on the ground floor and a rooftop, which will not be touched during the renovation work, which is due to begin soon. Until now, the homes in this building have operated under lease contracts. (…).

Blas Herrero and the real estate market

The operation again certifies Blas Herrero’s interest in the real estate market, in which he has made several significant investments in recent times. Just over three years ago, he paid €16.75 million – in a legal auction – for the Hotel Foxá 32 Suites, located next to Chamartín Station. A few months later, he reached an agreement with Barceló to manage the 158 rooms in this 5-star hotel establishment for 12 years (…).

For his latest purchase, of the building on Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, Herrero has teamed up with the Mexican magnate Rodrigo Lebois, President of Unifin Financiera, one of the most active investment firms in Latin America, which specialises in pure leasing, factoring, automotive credit and insurance. At the time of the purchase, Lebois expressed his desire to keep one floor for his own personal use.

A third Mexican investor has also participated in the transaction, whose name has not been revealed, according to sources close to the operation.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Rubén Arranz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Laborde Marcet: RE Inv’t Amounted To €3,520M In Q1

19 April 2017 – Eje Prime

The retail and office segments are driving investment in the real estate sector in Spain. Real estate investment amounted to €3,520 million during the first quarter of the year, in terms of non-residential real estate assets, of which more than half were located in Madrid and Barcelona, according to the real estate consultancy firm Laborde Marcet.

By sector, retail accounted for 42.5% of investments, amounting to €1,495 million, whereby recovering the starring role that it had ceded to the office segment in recent months. Offices accounted for 24.7% of total investment (€868 million). Meanwhile, the hotel sector accounted for 22.2% of the market (€783 million) and logistics the remaining 10.6% (€374 million).

“The real estate sector is reaching exorbitant levels in terms of the final prices of operations because there is a clear mismatch between the demand that exists and the available supply” – said Miquel Laborde, Managing Partner at Laborde Marcet -; “cities such as Barcelona and Madrid have very attractive real estate assets for both real estate investment purposes, as well as for commercial objectives, but there are only a handful of assets available for the large number of domestic and overseas investors interested in acquiring them, which means that rental and purchase prices are rising and asset yields are reducing”.

In this sense, domestic investors closed four out of every ten transactions completed during the first three months of the year, which represented an increase in Spain’s weight in the non-residential real estate market with respect to 2016.

By nationality, British, US, French and German investors were the main representatives from overseas, and they were particularly active in large operations in the offices and shopping centre segments.

If investment continues in this vein for the rest of the year, the tertiary real estate sector will register a record real estate investment figure of €14,000 million, which would represent an increase of 21.7% with respect to the data obtained in 2015 and of 25.8% with respect to 2016.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

C&W: RE Inv’t In Retail Sector Exceeded €4,300M In 2016

2 February 2017 – Finanzas

Real estate investment in the retail sector – commercial assets – in Spain exceeded €4,300 million in 2016, up by 22% compared to the previous year, thanks to the completion of 45 operations, according to the Marketbeat Retail España report, compiled by the real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The study indicates that much of this investment came from overseas investors, particularly in the case of shopping centres.

Nevertheless, overall, domestic capital increased to account for 67% of financing in 2016, compared to 8% in 2007, due to the rise of the Socimis.

The CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Spain, Oriol Barrachina, said that retail is one of the “clearest” indications that the market has become globalised.

Moreover, Barrachina commented on the need to increase “transformation” and “diversification” to generate wealth “in other neighbourhoods”.

In relation to retail complexes, the report indicated that they covered a total surface area of 16.8 million m2 – 66% of the total “stock” – spread across 672 locations.

More specifically, shopping centres covered a surface area of more than 11 million m2, with the addition of 175,000 m2 in 2016.

Regarding this year, the Director of Retail Leasing at Cushman & Wakefield in Spain, Cristina Pérez, highlighted the “positive trend” expected in the sector, thanks to the construction of another 100,000 m2 of space, with two centres in Madrid (Sambil and Plaza Río 2) and another one in Barcelona (phase 2 of Glòries).

In terms of retail parks in Spain, the supply now exceeds the European average, with a total surface area of 2.8 million m2.

In terms of high street premises, the head of the area, Robert Travers, explained that it has reached “historical highs”, thanks to the improvement in the economy, growth in tourism and rising consumer confidence.

Moreover, Travers noted that the luxury sector is suffering from a “major” change, following “eight years of euphoria”, due to the effect if terrorism, concerns over the Asian markets and a rise in taxes in China.

In this sense, the Head of High Street confirmed that the growth in luxury stores in Spain is going to be “moderate”.

Cushman & Wakefield’s report also contains information about the boom in e-commerce – which has grown globally by30% since 2007 – and its effect on the real estate sector.

Pérez underlined that it is now necessary “to offer a different social experience” to get “people out of the house” and visiting shopping centres in person.

The Head of Retail Leasing acknowledged that 77% of Spain’s shopping centres “need some kind of improvement”, including modifications to bring them closer to the e-commerce segment.

Original story: Finanzas

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s RE Sector Enjoys A Flurry Of Operations

24 November 2016 – Expansión

The real estate sector continues to celebrate. Investors are still very much interested in Spain and real estate operations continue to be signed. The office sector is still one of the major stars of the recovery, along with shopping centres, thanks to the boost from domestic and international investors and fund managers alike.

The increase in liquidity, together with the lack of profitable alternatives – such as the bond market – and the volatility of the global stock markets, have generated a great deal of interest in the sector and the experts predict that, with the resolution of the political deadlock now behind us, several pending operations will likely close within the next few months.

Although the experts forecast a decrease in investment in the sector, after a record year in 2015, large-scale operations, such as Amancio Ortega’s purchase of Torre Cepsa, are a sign of the good health that the sector is enjoying.

The Socimis continue to be one of the most important players, as evidenced by: the agreement reached between Merlin and the shareholder banks of Metrovacesa, for the merger of the two companies; the entry of the real estate company Colonial into the share capital of Axiare; and the decision taken by the US fund Pimco to strengthen its position in Lar España, taking it to almost 20%, according to the latest records from the CNMV.

Besides the activity in the tertiary asset market, the residential market is also enjoying a revival. In this sense, yesterday, the property developer Dospuntos, owned by the fund Värde, announced the launch of its first real estate development in Spain, with 62 homes in A Coruña. This move forms part of the company’s plan to invest €2,000 million in the country over the next six years.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Irea: Hotel Inv’t Amounted To €1,363M In YTD Sept 2016

17 October 2016 – Europa Press

Hotel investment in Spain has continued its strong momentum during the first nine months of 2016 to reach €1,363 million, according to a report about hotel investment in the real estate sector prepared by Irea. The report also shows that the figure could rise to €1,800 million by the end of the year. Despite the fact that the investment figure is 16% lower than the level recorded during the same period last year, it is the second best year ever.

Investor interest in hotel assets is still very high and if some of the main operations that are currently on the market are actually closed as a result of the year-end effect then the figure could end up exceeding €1,800 million by the end of 2016. The profile of investors has changed considerably with respect to 2015, when the Socimis (primarily Hispania and Merlin) were the stars and investment involving asset portfolios accounted for half of the total investment volume.

In 2016, operations involving individual assets are clearly dominating the market and are spreading in a general way across the whole country, versus the trend in recent years when there was a higher concentration of investment in traditional destinations.

The increase in the number of hotels sold to date in 2016 has been noteworthy (97 hotels compared to 83 last year), however, the average size per number of rooms has decreased significantly to 142 rooms from 214.

Madrid leads investment with €310 million.

In geographical distribution terms, Madrid leads the investment table for the second year in a row, with €310 million, followed by Barcelona with €302 million (the two regional capital cities account for 45% of total investment). The Balearic and Canary Islands are ranked in third and fourth places with €206 million and €198 million, respectively.

Whilst the figures in the Balearic Islands have remained stable compared to 2015, they have decreased in the Canary Islands after the high volume of investment seen in 2015, when it was the main investment destination in Spain.

Finally, there has been a notable increase in contributions to total investment from secondary destinations. In 2016, hotel investment has been distributed amongst 68 municipalities so far, compared with 44 in 2015 and 25 in 2014, which shows that the hotel investment market is establishing itself in Spain.

Investment is now reaching regional capitals such as Gijón, Oviedo, Orense, Lugo, Granada and Alicante, for example, i.e. places where barely any activity had been recorded in recent years.

The Socimis decrease their level of investment

The profile of investors has also changed markedly since 2015, when the Socimis were the undisputed stars, accounting for almost 50% of total investment volume in the hotel market in Spain.

This year, the Socimis have faded into the background, accounting for approximately €85 million of investment (only 6.2% of total hotel investment), whilst other types of investors have grown.

International investors have invested €585 million to date, almost twice as much as they spent in 2015, led by the Dogus Group, which purchased the Hotel Villa Magna in Madrid and Westmont Hospitality, which acquired a majority stake in Torre Agbar in Barcelona.

In terms of national chains, they invested €276 million in total on the purchase of 32 hotels. Highlights included Hotusa, which was the most active group, purchasing five properties during the first nine months of the year.

Meanwhile, domestic investors spent €304 million on hotels in total. The star of that category was HI Partners, which has acquired seven hotels so far this year, primarily in the vacation segment.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake