Tag: Gesvalt

Valliance Puts Asset Portfolio On Madrid’s Gran Vía Up For Sale

17 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Valliance, the real estate services company specialising in investment operations, is reactivating the real estate sector on Gran Vía. The company has been selected to coordinate the sales process of a real estate portfolio comprising residential and commercial properties in one of the most iconic buildings on Gran Vía, Madrid.

Located between Plaza de Callao and Plaza de España, a Madrilenian family office has engaged Valliance to sell three residential units and five commercial assets.

All of them are located in one of Gran Vía’s most well-known buildings, which was constructed in 1923 and which has a comprehensive listing. “The scarcity of assets of this kind for sale on Gran Vía means that this portfolio represents a great investment opportunity”, explains Belén Díaz, Director General at Valliance in Spain.

Valliance is a real estate services company that specialises in real estate investment, divestment and value-enhancing operations. It advises on the buy- and sell-side of all kinds of real estate assets, including offices, shopping centres, retail premises, logistics warehouses and hotels.

The firm works in the Spanish market, as well as in the United Kingdom through a partnership with Lambert Smith Hampton. It also collaborates with partners in Lisbon and other European capitals to render its services. The company is also the capital markets arm of Gesvalt.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

The MAB Gets Ready To Receive A New Wave Of Socimis

5 October 2017 – Expansión

Socimis have become the shining stars of the stock market and the undisputed protagonists of the real estate sector. Over the last four years, in addition to the large five listed Socimis – Merlin, Colonial, Hispania, Axiare and Lar España – , 40 vehicles of this kind have been incorporated into the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) and experts predict that, far from slowing down, the flood of stock market debuts is going to continue for the next few months at least.

Specifically, they estimate that around a dozen new vehicles are set to debut on the Madrilenian stock market. “We calculate that the total number of Socimis listed on the market could reach 50 by the end of 2017. At Armabex, we have 14 processes open for new Socimis, which will be making their debuts between 2017 and the first quarter of 2018”, explains Antonio Fernández, President of Armabex.

“You could say that we are facing the second wave of Socimis, but their growth prospects, until they reach the €40 million or €50 million mark, are still very broad”, explains Sandra Daza, Director General of Gesvalt. For Daza, the tightening of the access requirements to the MAB for Socimis, especially in terms of the diffusion of shareholders, will avoid the appearance of a distinguished group of small Socimis, focused solely on the fiscal benefits and not oriented towards the professionalism of their asset management.

Moreover, analysts expect to see greater specialisation in the field of the Socimis and consolidation of the sector over the medium term. “Gradually, over a period of three to five years, we will see the start of a new model of Socimi: those that arise as a result of mergers and acquisitions. This movement will result in the consolidation of the structure and the creation of some more heavyweight Socimis”, explains Fernández.

For Daza, the specialisation of Socimis in alternative assets within the real estate sector will be a process that will push ahead gradually: “For a Socimi to be a good investment vehicle, it requires a minimum size and a development plan that alternative assets do not always allow due to the small size of the market”.

Experts rule out that a bubble is being generated. “If we analyse in detail the history of the various Socimis listed on the MAB, the majority are the result of the restructuring of pre-existing real estate companies. In other words, there were not any previous transactions, they merely represented the adaptation of existing property portfolios to a new financial-fiscal environment, the Socimis, in which their respective real estate strategies fit better”, says Fernández. For Daza, in comparison with other countries, the size of the Spanish market and our GDP indicate that we are in for “a bright future in terms of the growth in the volume of Socimis over the next three to five years”.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gesvalt Moves Its HQ To The Cuzco VI Building

22 September 2017 – Eje Prime

Gesvalt is packing its bags to move to a new location in Madrid. The company, which specialises in consultancy and the valuation of assets is going to move its headquarters to the Cuzco IV building, at number 141 on Paseo de la Castellana. CBRE and Valliance have advised Gesvalt on the operation.

The company has leased an entire floor of offices in the property, spanning a surface area of 1,300 m2, according to a statement issued. The office building is owned by Inpacsa and is located in the main financial and business district of Madrid.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sacyr Wants To Clean Up Vallehermoso And Sell It Off Within 1 Year

11 September 2017 – El Confidencial

The appetite that international funds have unleashed for the Spanish real estate market has led Sacyr to redouble its negotiations with the creditor entities of its property developer subsidiary, Vallehermoso. The aim is to accelerate the settlement of that firm’s liabilities in order to sell off the last remains of the company, which is now just a shadow of what it used to be, but which is still a recognised brand in the market.

That is precisely the card that Sacyr wants to play: to take advantage of the appetite from the large overseas investors, to offer them a platform with extensive experience in the domestic property development market and which represents a household name for buyers. But, before reaching that point, it needs to complete the group’s financial clean-up.

The company chaired by Manuel Manrique acknowledges in its accounts for the first half of this year that “the negotiations with the creditor financial institutions progressed to decrease the debt significantly during the year”. Vallehermoso closed 2016 with financial commitments of €30 million, a similar figure to the previous year, but it managed to reduce its losses from €32.5 million to €7 million.

Sacyr is confident about its ability to pay off the liabilities of its subsidiary within one year and therefore be in a position to sell the company within the same time frame. Nevertheless, no formal sales mandate currently exists or is being organised, since all efforts are being focused on first achieving an agreement with the banks.

Vallehermoso’s current assets are worth €135 million, according to the latest appraisal performed by Gesvalt at the end of 2016. Of that amount, €129.9 million corresponds to land and €5.1 million to finished products and real estate investments. These figures are a far cry from the assets worth €7,000 million that the company held under its umbrella before the crisis, a giant that is already a distant memory and of which barely nothing remains after seven consecutive years of losses.

In fact, in February 2015, Sacyr was forced to come to the rescue of its subsidiary and inject €248.4 million to re-establish its equity balance, given that the property developer had closed the previous year on the verge of bankruptcy, with net assets amounting to less than half its share capital.

Nevertheless, since then, Vallehermoso has succeeded in convincing its creditor banks to accept discounts on the sales they are undertaking in order to accelerate the unblocking of finished assets, at the same time as sealing “daciones en pago” to also offload land, a strategy that Sacyr is confident of being able to redouble this year to finish cleaning up the company and getting it ready to sell (…).

A step-by-step liquidation 

In 2013 (…), the infrastructure group decided to deconsolidate its property developer subsidiary and account for it as an available-for-sale asset (…).

A year later, at the end of 2014, Sacyr transferred assets worth €1,000 million from Vallehermoso to Sareb in two consecutive operations, which meant the practical liquidation of the group (…).

Since then, Sacyr has held onto Vallehermoso as an available-for-sale asset. So far it has not managed to close the sale, but it is confident that it will be able to within the next few months, if the new round of conversations with its financial institutions yield the expected results.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

House Prices Forecast To Rise By 5% In 2017

6 June 2017 – Expansión

Growth / The sharp fall in house prices during the crisis years, combined with the pent-up demand, the reactivation of mortgage lending and the recovery of the Spanish economy means that property developers, appraisal companies, real estate companies, funds and consultants alike are all predicting fresh rises in house prices this year. Nevertheless, the professionals stress that the growth in prices will vary by area, with Madrid and Barcelona leading the recovery.

In 2016, house prices rose by 4.7% in Spain on average, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). That growth rate was the highest since the burst of the real estate bubble, a decade ago. And the experts believe that that figure will not only be repeated in 2017, it will actually be bettered. “According to CBRE’s Trend Barometer which reflects the views of the 100 most senior directors in the real estate sector, one out of every two surveyed believe that house prices will grow by between 3% and 6% in 2017 at the national level, whereas only 21% shared that optimism in 2016. It is the first time since the start of the crisis that the experts are forecasting a general rise in house prices in Spain”, explained Adolfo Ramírez Escudero, President, CBRE Spain. (…).

According to the majority of the experts, the increase will amount to around 5% this year…(…).

Although all of the experts are optimistic about the overall trend in prices, several are quick to point out that this increase will vary by region. “The recovery in prices is proving selective and heterogeneous. Although prices are soaring in certain places, they have still not bottomed out in other markets”, said Pedro Soria, at Tinsa.

“Salaries have not risen to a level that makes us think that prices are going to soar, although there are some exceptions in specific areas of the large regional capitals where we have detected strong demand”, said David Martínez, CEO at Aedas Homes.

By area, Madrid and Barcelona account for the best forecasts in terms of price rises. (…).

Similarly, in addition to the two major cities, the positive outlook is starting to spread to new areas. “Prices are on the rise primarily in the major capitals and on the islands”, said Sandra Daza, at Gesvalt.

The improvements in the macroeconomic variables mean that the good feelings about the housing market this year are also expected to have an impact over the coming years. “House prices are going to continue to rise over the next few years. This year, we expect to see an average rise of around 5%, but the shortage of buildable land in those areas where demand exists means that we can expect to see higher rates of growth in the future”, said Javier de Oro, at Aliseda, the real estate arm of Banco Popular.

In this sense, and despite the price rises that have been seen in recent quarters, the experts point out that we are still a long way from the figures seen before the burst of the bubble. “We are entering a period of growth, which may last three or four years. It is true that there are cycles, but I don’t think that we’ll ever see the price decreases of the past again”, said Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, President of the property developer Vía Célere and of the sector organisations Asprima and APCE. (…).

Whilst in the case of new homes, the upward trend in prices seems clear, in the case of second-hand properties, a recovery is also being seen but at a slower pace. “So far this year, our real estate index has been registering very slight YoY decreases, of just a few tenths of a percentage point, which shows us that second-hand house prices in Spain are stabilising”, said Beatriz Toribio, Head of Research at Fotocasa. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gesvalt: Rental Prices Rise In Spain’s Prime Retail Spaces

31 March 2017 – Eje Prime

Rental prices in the retail market continued to rise in 2016. Rental prices on the prime high streets of the main urban areas in the country experienced a change in trend after an increase in their prices. High streets such as Portal de l’Àngel in Barcelona and Gran Vía in Madrid now have monthly rental costs of €270/m2 and €230/m2, respectively, according to the Market Study of Commercial premises, prepared by the valuation specialist Gesvalt.

Although the retail sector still represents a very attractive market, its volume decreased with respect to 2015, primarily due to the boom in the Socimis, which last year focused their attention on actively managing their portfolios, rather that making new investments like the year before.

In the Catalan capital, streets such as Paseo de Gracia, Rambla Cataluña and Avenida Diagonal saw prices stabilise at their 2015 levels. In Madrid, rental prices rose slightly with respect to 2015, with Calle Preciados once again the high street that recorded the most expensive prices in the capital, with rents of €255/m2/month. In Madrid, the significant increase in rents on Gran Vía saw prices rise from €205/m2/month to €230/m2/month last year.

In Valencia, rents in the prime areas rose by between 5% and 10%, and Calle Colón was the city’s most expensive street, with rents of up to €160/m2/month on its most exclusive stretches. In the city of Palma, prices remained stable with respect to the previous year on the city’s three prime streets.

“Meanwhile, it is worth noting the low and almost zero availability of large and flagship stores in all of the prime areas, due to the significant demand for that kind of property from the large brands”, said the study.

Sandra Daza, Director General at Gesvalt, said that, based on the results obtained, it is clear that “commercial premises are still the most profitable assets in Spain”. And she added that “buying a commercial property in a prime area in Spain and then leasing it out would currently generate a gross return of between 4.5% and 6%.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Gesvalt: Madrid’s Logistics Sector Grows For First Time Since 2009

13 February 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario

The leasing of industrial warehouses in the Community of Madrid increased in 2016 for the first time in eight years following a recession in the logistics sector. The evolution of the market in the region last year confirms the positive forecasts that experts predicted at the end of 2015. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that this increase in the volume of space leased in the logistics sector was mild and gradual over the whole period, according to the conclusions of the latest report from Gesvalt, a consultancy and asset valuation company.

Sandra Daza, Director General at Gesvalt, considers that “these are noteworthy figures because they are evidence of the reactivation of the sector, which will also undergo more changes over the next few years, due to the reactivation of consumption and the evolution of e-commerce”. In this sense, Daza forecasts that “we are going to see an increase in the supply of these types of industrial warehouses, especially in Madrid and Barcelona”.

In the province of Madrid, which has 43 industrial estate areas, the distribution of industrial space is divided as follows: 32% production, 22% storage, 12% logistics, 7% commercial and 27% business parks.

The extractive and manufacturing sectors are giving way to the drive from the storage and distribution sectors. Large firms dedicated to this activity are moving into the region and are demanding large surface areas, close to large populations and with access to fast roads. Nowadays, these types of assets are the star product in the logistics and industrial sector in Madrid. By contrast, investors have lost interest in smaller warehouses on old industrial estates and the few operations that are taking place are being closed at almost cost prices.

In 2017, the aforementioned change is expected to be consolidated, with slight increases in rents. Returns could reach 7% and a minimal increase is expected in the volume of operations.

Almost 50% of the investors that are operating in the industrial market in the region are domestic and international institutions, whilst the other half comprise Socimis and family offices. By contrast, large financial institutions are the main vendors of these types of products.

80% of the operations in the Community of Madrid in 2016 were located in the Corredor del Henares, although the volume of surface area leased was still low (150,000 m2).

The interest in the market for rental over sale, the scarcity of land in really attractive areas and the relative low rates of return (6%) confirm that although the recovery of the sector is underway, it still has a long way to go.

Within the Community of Madrid, the municipality with the greatest volume of industrial activity is Fuenlabrada, which accounts for 25% of the total and is home to 21 industrial estate areas.

The large Mercamadrid industrial estate, located in the industrial area of Villa de Vallecas, is the largest in the Community of Madrid (1,8000,000/2,000,0000 m²), followed by the Vicálvaro industrial estate, which is as big as the Cobo Calleja de Fuenlabrada estate (1,750,000/1,800,000 m²). (…).

Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Optimum RE’s Share Price Rise By 10% In First Week On The MAB

7 October 2016 – La Vanguardia

The CEO of Optimum Re Spain, Josep Borrell Daniel, has positively assessed the debut of his Socimi on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) and highlighted that its value on the stock market has increased by 10% in just a week.

Borrell was speaking at an event “Socimis: the road to a new real estate sector” organised by Garrigues, Gesvalt and Solventis in Barcelona.

He said that the value of Optimum Re Spain, a Socimi that specialises in the residential market in the centres of Barcelona and Madrid, has increased by 10% on the stock exchange in just a week, following its debut on the MAB.

Optimum RE Spain owns around 15 buildings in Barcelona and Madrid, with an average purchase price of €2,000/sqm and average rents of 4.5%, which will increase to 5% or 6% over the next few years.

Borrell highlighted that his objective is to significantly improve the quality of the buildings and increase their rents with the aim of divesting the assets within a period of seven years to obtain an “attractive return”. He acknowledged that those sales may happen “sooner or later” depending on the evolution of the market.

The fact that the Socimi has purchased at the low point of the cycle means the properties will generate significant returns and he hopes to be able to sell them for between €3,500/sqm and €4,000/sqm.

The Socimi has invested around €70 million to date and still has another €4 million or €5 million to spend.

Borrell said that he is considering constituting another Socimi, similar to Optimum RE Spain or a rental Socimi: “we have the capital, the problem is choosing the product”, he said.

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Property Appraisal Sector Grows For 2nd Year Running

20 April 2016 – El Mundo

The combined turnover of the 23 appraisal companies that belong to the Spanish Association of Value Analysis (‘la Asociación Española de Análisis de Valor’ or AEV) amounted to €221.4 million in 2015, up by 8% compared with 2014. This is undoubtedly a clear sign of the recovery in the real estate sector. Moreover, these figures show that activity in the sector grew for the second year in a row.

This upwards trend was also reflected in the number of property appraisals performed, which rose by 28.6%, to 872,480 operations, worth €313,932 million.

Of that total, 461,131 valuations were performed on homes, and 457,569 complete appraisals were carried out for mortgage purposes, 19.7% more than in 2014, and the value of those efforts increased by 25%.

The 23 appraisal companies, which account for 90% of the sector by revenue, also carried out five million statistical or other valuations, which contributed significantly to the increase in turnover.

In the words of the AEV’s secretary José Manuel Gómez de Miguel, the aggregate data published by our members allows us to affirm that “these two years of positive data show that there has been a turnaround in terms of appraisal activity in our country, which, along with many other indicators, may be extrapolated to activity in the real estate sector as a whole and to mortgage lending”.

“This data”, added Gómez de Miguel, “also alludes to the flexibility and adaptability of the large, medium-sized and small companies that make up the different areas of the sector”.

Ranking by turnover

The table in the article lists the ranking of the 23 appraisal companies that belong to the AEV, by turnover. The Top 5 (Tinsa, Sociedad de Tasación, Valtecnic, Ibertasa and Gesvalt) account for more than 65% of the total turnover, after they reported very similar figures to last year.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake