Aedas Hands Over its First Homes Since its Creation in 2016

16 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Aedas Homes is following its business plan to the letter and is handing over the first development in its history. The company has obtained its first certification of completion for the Brisas del Arenal development in Jávea (Alicante), a residential project conceived for the second-home market.

The Brisas del Arenal development comprises 64 homes in total with two-, three- and four-bedrooms as well as common areas. After obtaining the official certificate of completion for Brisas del Arenal, Aedas Homes has begun the process to apply for the First Occupancy Licence (LPO), a necessary step before the homes can be handed over.

These 64 homes are going to be the first to be handed over by the property developer in its history and represent an important proportion of the more than 200 units whose keys will be handed over in 2018. 75% of the buyers in Brisas del Arenal are Spanish, with a high presence of people from Valencia and Madrid acquiring holiday homes, and 25% are international, looking for homes for long stays.

In the strategic plan that Aedas presented as part of its stock market debut, the property developer estimated that it would hand over the keys to 1,286 homes over the next two years: 221 homes this year and 1,065 in 2019. Nevertheless, 132 more units have been added to the real estate company’s plans before the end of the first quarter of this year.

Currently, Aedas has 26 projects underway in the five regions of the country in which it has a presence (namely Madrid, Cataluña, Sevilla, the Costa del Sol and Levante&Baleares). By area, the property developer will finish this quarter having laid the first stone of five developments in four of the regions, with the exception of Levante&Baleares, where it will have started six new projects.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Morgan Stanley & Gestilar To Build 1,050 New Homes

27 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Gestilar and Morgan Stanley are taking their first steps together in the sector. The property developer and the international fund have invested €120 million in the acquisition of land in Spain, where they plan to construct more than 1,050 homes, according to Javier García-Valcárcel, founder and President of Gestilar, speaking to Eje Prime. The company is currently marketing a portfolio of 1,000 homes, which it expects to complete and deliver in 2018.

For the most part, the land purchases have taken place following the signing of a joint venture with Morgan Stanley. “90% of these new acquisitions form part of the agreement”, says García-Valcárcel. Most of the land recently acquired by the group is located in Madrid, Cataluña, Galicia and the Balearic Islands, according to the director.

This land, which has a combined surface area of 150,000 m2, will be added to the portfolio that the company is already working on. It is constructing around 1,000 homes, which it will deliver during the course of next year and of which almost 80% have already been sold. “Gestilar has completed 600 homes in the last three years”, says the executive.

The roadmap for Gestilar and Morgan Stanley has already been defined, at least the next stage. “We have a pipeline for investing capital for the acquisition of land to build more than 2,000 homes”, explains García-Valcárcel. “That means investing around €250 million more”.

With García-Varcárcel as the sole shareholder, the company launched so-called Project Orizone, with the aim of searching for a strategic partner. Through a process led by A&G, it invited more than a dozen international funds, who had expressed interest in the project, to participate and in the end, the winner was Morgan Stanley’s fund.

“This investor was looking for a partner in Spain and after a year of negotiations, we closed an agreement”, says the executive. “We were never looking for a corporate operation but rather a single strategic partner to work with over the next four or five years”. The long-term objective is to launch 14 or 15 new projects.

Gestilar plans to build 2,500 new homes between 2018 and 2020, with an investment of around €500 million during that period. That will allow the company to place itself amongst the largest real estate businesses in the country in terms of construction volumes.

Morgan Stanley’s return to Spanish real estate  

With this alliance, Morgan Stanley’s fund is backing the Spanish real estate sector once again. In 2006, before the international economic crisis hit, the fund announced that it had €1,000 million proceeding from various funds to invest in real estate assets in Spain.

In line with its plans, Morgan Stanley launched a company together with the real estate group Lar. Moreover, during its time in the Spanish market, the fund joined forced with the real estate firm owned by the Pereda family to build shopping centres and holiday homes on the coast. Nevertheless, it never prospered and ended up shutting down the company after investing in five holiday home projects (with more than 1,500 units) and ten shopping centres.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

HomeAway: Holiday Home Revenues Grew By 4% In 2015

8 July 2016 – Expansión

Spanish residents spent just over €1,311 million renting out holiday homes in Spain in 2015, 4% more than in 2014, according to a study conducted by HomeAway and the University of Salamanca. If we add to this amount an estimate of the other costs incurred by holiday home occupants during their stays, then this expenditure figure increases to €6,159 million, which represents 0.57% of GDP in 2015.

Over the last two years, between April 2014 and April 2016, the total cumulative rental cost paid by travellers amounted to €2,622 million, and that figure increases to €12,318 million if we take into account all the other expenditure incurred by those users during their stays (in other words, the amounts that users spend in the areas surrounding the properties they rent).

Holiday homes are becoming increasingly popular amongst travellers resident in Spain, according to the data from the aforementioned study. In the last two years, 8 million Spaniards, aged between 18 and 65, have used this business model.

Holiday homes are increasing in popularity against other more traditional option and accounted for 36% of the total market in 2015.

Users

Families lead the ranking of holiday home users, accounting for 45% of total demand, followed by couples, who represent 32%, and groups of friends come in in third place (19%).

Price is the most important and valued factor influencing consumers’ final decisions, according to the study. Location and environment are the next most prized characteristics.

The favourite regions in terms of destinations for users of these holiday homes are: Andalucía (25%), Comunidad Valenciana (14%), Cataluña (12%) and the Canary Islands (11%). Nevertheless, 70% of rentals booked in Spain are made by overseas visitors, given that the country is the preferred holiday destination for Europeans.

Original story: Expansión (by María Sánchez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tinsa: Holiday Home Prices Rises Spread Along The Coast

15 June 2016 – El Mundo

Holiday home price increases have spread to more than twice the number of municipalities that they were seen in last year, with the Costa del Sol, Alicante, Balearic and Canary Islands enjoying the most active markets. Meanwhile, Castellón, the Cantabrian coast, Menorca and La Palma are still seeing price decreases/stabilisation. Those are the findings of the Coastal Homes 2016 report prepared by Tinsa, which shows that prices increased in 71 of the 136 municipalities analysed along the coast during Q1 2016, compared with 35 in 2015 and 4 in 2014.

The appraisal company explained that although this trend, “which is more in line with a stabilisation phase than a clear recovery” is spreading “gradually”, the coastal market is still “very heterogeneous”, given that prices in certain locations are still decreasing at an annual rate of more than 5%. The company added that the most repeated pattern is the absence of construction as well as of transactions involving land. (…).

By municipality, the towns of Teguise and Tías, in Lanzarote, recorded the highest YoY price rises during the first quarter, with increases of 17.8% and 14%, respectively, according to provisional data from Tinsa’s appraisals. They were followed by Gavà (Barcelona) and Benicarló (Castellón), both of which saw an increase of 13.2%, and Blanes (Gerona), where prices rose by 12.8%, with respect to Q1 2015.

The largest decreases were recorded in Piélagos (Cantabria), where the average price fell by 16% over the last 12 months; Antigua (Fuerteventura), down by 12.6%; and Los Alcázares (Murcia), with a decrease of 10.6%.

Price decreases of more than 50%

Similarly, the report shows that the Spanish coast accounted for a large majority of the highest price decreases during the crisis. Of the municipalities analysed, the most intense reduction since 2007 was recorded in Mataró (Barcelona), where the average price has decreased by 59.8% since the height of the boom. (…).

Stable outlook

Tinsa’s forecast for the next few months is characterised by stabilisation. Tinsa expects prices to remain stable in just over half of the regions analysed in its report and for prices to rise in just over a third of the areas. This forecast for improving prices focuses primarily along the coast of Valencia Alicante, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Canary Islands and San Sebastián, as well as along some stretches of the coast in Gerona, Barcelona, Cádiz and Asturias.

In terms of the supply of holiday homes, the report notes that it mostly comprises second-hand properties. The stock generated in recent years as a result of the slowdown in financing and sales is gradually being absorbed.

Moreover, Tinsa’s technical network classifies the over-supply of holiday homes as “very abundant” in just 8 of the 55 regions. These include the northern coast of Castellón; the Manga del Mar Menor; the west of Almería; the south of Barcelona; the central stretch of the Tarragona coast; the western region of Cádiz and the eastern coast of Vizcaya.

To evaluate the degree of difficulty in terms of stock absorption, Tinsa concludes that the current stock is “manageable in the short term” in 56% of the regions. This group includes the coasts of the provinces of Girona, Valencia, Huelva, Granada and San Sebastián, as well as Ibiza, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and most of the provinces of Alicante, Murcia and Cádiz. (…).

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake