Gestilar Launches Plan to Address Mallorca’s Scarce Housing Supply

6 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Gestilar is thinking about the Mediterranean. The property developer has started the summer by marketing the first 89 homes that it is building in Mallorca. As part of its €123 million investment plan, the real estate company is going to build 400 homes over the next few years in Palma across three developments in the Nou Llevant area, to the south-east of the city.

Mediterrània 1, the residential development through which the real estate firm has arrived in the Balearic Islands, is going to comprise homes with two, three and four bedrooms. It is designed for locals, both first-time buyers as well as those looking to reposition”, explain sources at Gestilar speaking to Eje Prime.

On an island with a “shortage of structural supply and economic stability”, Mallorca has become “one of the most desirable markets in Europe for investing in the real estate sector”, according to Raúl Guerrero, Director of Developments at Gestilar.

At the end of 2017, the property developer led by Javier García-Valcárcel purchased three plots in the Balearic capital with a total surface area of 55,300 m2. “We set our sights on Palma due to the shortage of new housing projects that have been built there in recent years”, explains Guerrero, who highlights the “the pent-up and unfulfilled demand” that exists in the city.

The first of the developments comprises several four- and seven-story blocks with their ground floors allocated to commercial premises. The design of the project has been entrusted to the Spanish architecture studio L35, which has created an urbanisation with substantial common areas.

Located 500 metres from the beach and the port of Portixol, Mediterrània 1 will have communal spaces with a swimming pool, a gym and a games area for children. The construction of the first phase is due to start between the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2019, with the aim of handing over the first keys before the end of 2020.

“There is space for new projects in Palma” 

Gestilar’s interest Palma is not the first from a Spanish residential property developer in recent months. A few days ago, the listed company Aedas Homes put on the market its fourth project in the Balearic capital and several other companies are working to begin projects this year.

This growing interest in Mallorca comes in response to the sales rates on the island that place it at the top of the ranking in the residential sector, behind Madrid and Barcelona. “It is still too early to assess the rates of our own developments, but for the last few months, we have been monitoring and updating our market research, and the results of this analysis reveal a high rate of marketing in the area”, explains Guerrero (…). According to the director of Gestilar, “there is space for new projects in Palma”, where the property developer has already opened an office.

In this regard, the property developer believes that Palma is going to be one of the cities, like Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao, that will look to improve its positioning abroad. In the Balearic capital, we are seeing a recovery in terms of property development activity, where a significant number of developments have started to be marketed between December 2015 and October 2017, which means that home completions are now growing, according to Gestilar (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Expands into Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) with 100 New Homes

2 July 2018 – Eje Prime

Aedas Homes is extending its tentacles in Madrid and has reached Torrejón de Ardoz with its first residential project. The listed property developer is going to develop 100 homes in that municipality, which will constitute the Lángara urbanisation.

The homes, which include ground floor garden flats and penthouses with two, three and four bedrooms, have already gone on the market with prices starting at €165,000. The promotion will have a garden, a swimming pool, a gym, a children’s play area and a lounge bar in the common areas.

Lángara is designed for both first-time buyers and those looking to reposition themselves on the property ladder, according to Aedas. With more than 1.5 million m2 of buildable land in its portfolio, the property developer still has space to develop around 14,000 homes in Madrid, Cataluña, Sevilla, Costa del Sol, Levante and the Balearic Islands.

The plans of Aedas, in which the US fund Castlelake holds a stake, include reaching a handover rate that exceeds the number of homes under construction by 2022. The company led by David Martínez wants to achieve the break-even point after launching more than 2,000 homes this year: 2,500 in 2019 and peaking with 3,000 homes in 2020 and 2021.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Registrars: 99,343 Second-Hand Homes Sold In Q2 2017

4 September 2017 – Expansión

More than 1,000 second-hand homes were sold per day in Q2. During the second quarter of 2017, 99,343 second-hand house sales were recorded, the highest quarterly figure since 2007. That statistic confirms the consolidation of the residential market.

Over the last 12 months, 429,624 properties were sold, and so the experts consider that the sector is reaching its cruising speed. Moreover, they forecast that prices will rise by around 5%, which is the “healthiest” rate to avoid a bubble (…).

Each day, 1,090 second-hand homes are sold in Spain, according to data from the College of Registrars. It is true that not all of those homes are strictly “second-hand”, given that although they have all been sold in the past, some of them have never been lived in (those sold to the banks). However, new build sales are also recovering and overall, demand is booming. Over the last twelve months, 429,624 homes were sold, which is very close to the psychological threshold of 450,000, which real estate analysts consider would represent a return to normality in the housing sector.

“In most markets, the recovery is starting to take hold or has already been established”, said Julio Gil, President of the Real Estate Research Foundation. In his opinion, there are three speeds of recovery: “The first, in large capital cities, islands and the most established areas along the coast. The second, in the most heavily populated capital cities. The third, in small capital cities and areas without much activity”.

“The forecasts indicate that 2017 will close with between 450,000 and 500,000 residential property sales. I think that we are going to reach cruising speed”, says Manuel Gandarias, Founding Partner and Director General at Civislend PFP (…).

New build sales are taking off

“New builds are starting to gain ground. All of the off-plan sales made in 2014, 2015 and 2016 are starting to be recorded in the statistics now. The numbers are going to start to grow”, says Gandarias. According to Julio Gil, this recovery depends “on demand from the youngest generation, i.e. from first-time buyers, being able to access the market”. In reality, new families have been displaced to the rental market, which is experiencing a boom: rental prices are rising significantly and returns on homes are much higher than those being offered on deposits and public debt.

Gandarias explains the effect of this displacement on the buy-to-let market as follows: “There is still a lot of upwards potential for new builds. We are always talking about pent-up demand, and that demand exists, but it still doesn’t fulfil the solvency criteria demanded by the financial institutions”. Gil adds that “ It is absolutely necessary (for society) to redouble efforts in terms of access to housing for young people, with help to make purchases that can be reversed. That is one of the major challenges facing the housing market.

In other words, the market could still grow more. That will happen if employment continues to grow. However, there is a significant threat to mortgage financing and therefore home buying: that of a possible increase in interest rates.

The inevitable rise in interest rates

“A large part of the current recovery is due to the extraordinarily low interest rates” says Gil. “A rise in rates, which will happen sooner or later, will have a significant impact on the real estate market”. The other factor that will determine the behaviour of the future growth of the sector will be the behaviour of demand from first-time buyers.

Meanwhile, house prices are continuing to rise, but not by too much, dispelling fears of a new bubble. In comparison with the same period last year, second-hand house prices have risen by 1.7%, according to Idealista, up from €1,529/m2 in August 2016 to €1,554/m2 now. The highest rises were seen in the Balearic Islands (+1.7%), followed by the Canary Islands (+0.8%), Cataluña and Castilla-La Mancha (+0.7% in both cases). They were followed by prices in Comunidad Valenciana (+0.6%) and Andalucía (+0.5%) (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Fitch: House Prices Are Going to Rise At A Faster Rate Than Salaries

20 February 2017 – El Economista

On Thursday, the ratings agency Fitch warned that access to housing in Spain is going to gradually worsen as a result of the difficulties facing the labour market.

In its report about the outlook for the real estate and mortgage market in 2017, the ratings agency forecasts that house prices in Spain are going to rise at a faster rate than salaries, which means that the accessibility of housing is going to deteriorate.

“Fitch expects the accessibility of housing to gradually worsen given that any recovery in salaries will be lower than the increase in house prices, taking into account the challenges facing the labour market”, said the agency, which added that access to the real estate market will be “especially difficult” for first-time buyers.

Fitch expects the positive trend observed in house prices, which rose by 4% during the third quarter of 2016, to continue thanks to “robust economic growth”, the maturity of the mortgage market and foreign demand, which currently accounts for 13% of transactions.

Nevertheless, it says that the two-speed market will continue, given that the “bulk” of the recovery will focus on homes whose quality and location place them above average.

Slow down due to floor clauses

On the other hand, Fitch thinks that the legal uncertainties surrounding the floor clauses and the reform of the mortgage market will slow down the growth experienced since 2014 for the granting of loans to buy homes.

“The rate of growth in loans will slow down from the levels seen in 2015 and during the first half of 2016, given that Spain’s banks will adopt a more cautious approach in the face of the legal uncertainties that are affecting the mortgage market”, said the agency.

Nevertheless, it considers that the rise in house prices and the favourable loan environment, thanks to low interest rates, are still offsetting the repayment of loans in progress.

Finally, Fitch thinks that Spain’s banks will continue to reduce their exposure to toxic assets by divesting their non-strategic businesses, such as their non-performing loans and foreclosed properties.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: Q1 2015 – House Sales Up By 9.4%, Prices Up By 1.5%

9 June 2015 – Bloomberg Business

Spanish house prices are failing to keep up with the surge in transactions, as a lingering glut of empty homes takes it toll on the market.

Values rose by 1.5%  during the first quarter from a year earlier, however purchases increased by 9.4%, according to data published today by the National Statistics Institute (INE). Prices fell by 0.6% during the period compared with the last quarter of 2014.

“Challenging supply-demand fundamentals in the sector are likely to weigh down on the pace of recovery in house prices for the remainder of 2015 and 2016,” said Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “The slower rate of increase in house prices during the first quarter of 2015 was disappointing.”

Spanish house prices fell about 40% from peak to trough following the property industry’s implosion in 2007. Though the economy is set grow by 3.1% this year and 2.5% in 2016, an excess of empty homes and lack of first-time buyers will continue to weigh down price growth going forward, Badiani said.

Spain’s housing market faces long-term challenges as the number of people between 25 and 35 years old, a typical source of first-time home buyers, will decline by 35% over the next decade, according to the Statistics Institute. The country has an estimated one million empty homes and also has the second-highest unemployment rate in the euro area at 23%.

“Demand for housing continues to battle against some harsh fundamentals, characterised by households still wary of poor labour market conditions, implying the glut of unsold new properties will continue to linger,” Badiani said.

Original story: Bloomberg Business (by Sharon Smyth)

Edited by: Carmel Drake