Madrid Nuevo Norte’s New Offices will be Home to 125,000+ Employees

22 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid Nuevo Norte, the focus of the recently announced new homes, is also going to be home to a business centre. Offices are going to be built in the financial epicentre of the Spanish capital to house 125,472 employees in total. Moreover, the district is going to be home to the tallest building in Spain, with up to seventy floors.

The project is going to house the Chamartín Business Centre, where almost all of the properties for businesses are going to be located. They will house two thirds of the 1.5 million m2 that are going to be dedicated to offices in Madrid Nuevo Norte, according to reports from Cinco Días.

The volume of business in terms of office development will exceed €10 billion; in the case of house building, that figure will reach €3.0 billion. The project’s economic report shows a range of profitability from the real estate business in the new district of between 11.2% and 16.4%.

After several adjustments, Madrid Nuevo Norte has decreased its total buildability by 21%, down from 3.37 million m2 per the initial plan to 2.66 million m2. Similarly, the district has been divided into four areas: Chamartín station, the business district, Fuencarral-San Roque-Tres Olivos and Fuencarral-Las Tablas. Each one will have its own timetable and urbanisation costs.

The project is going to be financed almost in its entirety by the landowners, which will disburse an average of €1.2 billion. With the aim of covering the urbanisation costs, the Town Hall of Madrid will spend €307.89 million, which will be added to €24.78 million from the Community of Madrid and €220.49 million from Adif, the concessionaire of the rights.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Invites Ministry of Development to Reactivate Operación Campamento with 11,500 Homes

25 September 2018 – El Confidencial

The mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, announced today that she has invited the Ministry of Development to reactivate Operación Campamento, originally proposed in 2005, to be built on disused military land in the south-west of the capital, with the construction of 11,150 homes instead of the 22,100 units projected by the PP initially. This is one of the last remaining urban development projects in Madrid, together with the developments in the southeast of the city and Operación Chamartín, which received initial approval from the Town Hall of Madrid last week.

In April 2015, the Ministry of Defence – the owner of the plots – announced their sale through an online public auction on Addmeet, but in the end, the operation was left hanging. Then, as El Confidencial reported, the asking price for the plots – through the public auction process – amounted to between €200 million and €250 million.

Now, three years later, and with the urbanisation process underway for Madrid Nuevo Norte (MNN) – the new name for Operación Chamartín – Carmena seems to be willing to place enough land on the market to try to put a stop to the sharp rise in prices, both in the purchase and rental markets, that the capital has experienced over the last two years and which has also led Carmena herself to propose to the central Government a moratorium or an automatic extension of the rental contracts that are due to terminate before the Urban Lease Law (LAU) is reformed.

Manuela Carmena made this announcement during her opening speech in the debate over the state of the city, in which she vindicated the Government’s actions in urban planning and its willingness to put a stop to the inequality that exists between the north and the south of the city (…).

As already happened with MNN, where the total buildability was reduced by 21% – from 3.37 million m2 in the previous plan to 2.66 million m2 in the current plan – along with the number of homes – from 18,500 to 10,510, mostly social housing properties – the operation will not go ahead at any price and, according to Carmena’s comments, the total buildability would also be reduced in this new Operación Campamento and the construction of public housing would be strengthened.

Operación Campamento in numbers

Designed on plots of land owned by the state, the Town Hall wants to build 11,150 homes, of which 40% will be private – 4,150 -, 37% will be social housing properties with limited prices – 3,800 – , and 23% will be social housing properties, of which 1,100 will be rental homes.

So-called Operación Campamento was launched in 2005 with the signing of an agreement between the then Minister of Defence, José Bono, and Minister for Housing, María Antonia Trujillo, and the then mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, for the construction of two phases of up to 22,100 homes on this disused military site to the west of the Spanish capital. Even though today, around half of the homes should have already been built, not a single brick has been laid.

Despite the strategic location of the plots, the reality is that only the Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin, owner of the Wanda group, publically announced his intention to undertake the €3 billion investment on them. That offer never came to fruition because the auction never went ahead (…).

Operación Campamento is one of the most important residential developments in Madrid capital after Operación Chamartín. It spans 1.5 million m2 – with more than 1 million m2 of buildable space – on which offices, hotels, shopping centres, private and public housing, as well as sports facilities and schools could be built. Moreover, the operation would include placing part of the highway to Extremadura (the A-5) underground as well as the construction of a transport interchange at the Aviación Española metro station, where a parking lot is planned for around 2,000 vehicles.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E.S.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Acciona Buys a Plot of Residential Land in Malilla (Valencia) from Sareb

19 December 2017 – Valencia Plaza

Acciona Inmobiliaria is joining the property developer fever in Malilla. The firm has purchased one of the few plots of land left for sale in the Valencian neighbourhood from Sareb for more than €7 million, according to several sources in the sector speaking to Valencia Plaza.

The transaction, which was signed last week, places almost 2,000 m2 of land in Malilla Norte Residencial at the disposal of the property developer. The plot has a permitted buildable surface area of almost 15,000 m2 – equivalent to around 150 homes.

According to the same sources, Acciona, which has been advised by the consultancy firm CBRE, was awarded the plot after it submitted the best offer in a process that saw half a dozen companies compete. The marketing of the plot was carried out by Solvia.

Execution unit 1 in the Malilla Morte sector is one of the hottest spots in Valencia’s property market. It comprises a land surface area measuring 360,000 m2, of which 70,000 m2 will comprise a large garden – plus another 13,000 m2 for the same use spread throughout the neighbourhood – 68,000 m2 for the road network, 50,000 m2 for public use and 45,000 m2 for private buildable land.

It is precisely the buildable plots where a large number of property developers have taken positions, including Libra, Hábitat, ASG Iberia (Activum SG), Grupo Lobe, Urbem and Aelca.

The most talked about investment in the area was that made by the listed company Neinor Homes, which after acquiring a plot for the development of 54 flats in the neighbourhood, spent another €27 million to buy 50,000 m2 of land from the Valencia firm Urbem, where it plans to build 400 homes.

Second development underway

In terms of Acciona Inmobiliaria, the firm has at least two projects underway in the city after announcing its return to domestic property building in March, with the construction of 16 developments – 13 in Spain and the rest in Mexico and Poland.

As this newspaper reported, the infrastructure management and renewable energy company will build a development on Avenida del Puerto, 284, on the corner of Calle Barco. That residential complex will comprise 53 homes and will integrate a protected façade.

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by Dani Valero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Private Housing Developments Reactivate Sevilla’s Crisis-Hit Neighbourhoods

26 October 2017 – Sevilla ABC

The new residential expansion zones planned for Sevilla and its metropolitan area will move from paper to reality over the next five years. The economic recovery and express reactivation of the property sector will allow neighbourhoods to be established once again, after the crisis reduced many of them to isolated developments without any services or public infrastructure.

Perhaps the clearest example of this new panorama is Entrenúcleos, in Dos Hermanas, where plans are afoot to construct 2,500 homes. The project has been entrusted to Insur and BBVA, which has already started to market the first phase, involving almost 300 properties. That development will be built in parallel to that of the social housing blocks promised by the real estate firm Altamira – a subsidiary of Banco Santander – and the Ferrocarril group.

The growth of this Nazarene enclave was originally reflected in the PGOU approved in 2002, with a view to creating a neighbourhood with more than 20,000 inhabitants, almost a small city between the urban centres of Dos Hermanos and Montequinto.

The latter nucleus has also undergone significant residential expansion  in recent times thanks to the company Bekinsa, which has constructed several developments in the area around Avenida de Europa, the last remaining space left to build on, next to the Metro stop, where a couple of urbanisations have already been sold, for delivery this year, and where off-plan apartments are being sold, for delivery in 2019.

More buildings are going to be built next to these homes on plots, located next to the shopping centre, which have been acquired by Quintos, S.A., with capacity for 800 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes.

In the Andalucian capital, the cranes are already appearing in the neighbourhoods on the outskirts, where there are still large blocks of land left to populate. As set out in the Urban Development Plan, the city will continue to grow eastwards, with a new recently announced development. It will be constructed by the Madrilenian company Vía Célere, which has acquired the former plots of the real estate company Osuna after they ended up in the hands of BBVA. The investment has exceeded €26 million and will allow for the construction of 1,700 homes on the land closest to the water park, on the Airport Industrial Estate (…)

New neighbourhoods

The property developer Metrovacesa is also working on a residential plan of a similar scale on land in Palmas Altas, taking advantage of the interest that the new shopping centre will generate there and the recent agreement that it has reached with the Town Hall to push ahead with the initiative (…).

The final area of residential expansion in Sevilla is Hacienda Rosario, located next to Torreblanca, where 1,977 homes are due to be constructed around a large park, which will form the lungs of the new neighbourhood. Of those, around 800 will be social housing properties and the remainder will be private homes (…).

Another aspect that has caught people’s attention is the decided commitment from the American investment funds to the real estate sector in Sevilla. Several, such as Värde Partners (through Vía Célere) and Aedas Homes, which is leading the project in Hacienda Rosario, will be looking to the Andalucian capital to push ahead with their plans over the next five years.

Original story: Sevilla ABC (by Elena Martos)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: New House Prices Are Soaring In Spain’s Large Cities

22 June 2017 – Idealista

New homes are becoming an “endangered species” in the real estate market in Spain’s large cities and along the coast. The increase in demand versus the shortage of supply means that prices are rising by more than the average growth rate of 4%-6% in capital cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, according to the forecasts published by CBRE for 2017. In addition, despite the greater increase in construction activity, the gradual rise in the value of buildable land is having an effect on the final price of new homes.

According to the residential report from CBRE for 2017, the average price of homes in Spain will grow during the course of this year by between 4% and 6%, although in some markets, such as in the large cities and along the coast, the increase in house values will be greater, given the demand-side pressure.

“Although the recovery in the residential market is not leading to significant tensions in terms of house prices at the national level, sharp rises are being seen in the price of new homes in certain local markets with high demand and a very limited supply of new homes”, said Samuel Población, National Director of Residential and Land at CBRE.

New housing is starting to become scarce in markets such as Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in areas along the coast such as Alicante and Málaga, despite the fact that the construction of new homes is being concentrated in these capital cities. The report warns that the current levels of construction are not going to be sufficient to absorb the demand for these types homes over the next two years.

CBRE calculates that this demand amounts to between 120,000 and 140,000 units per year, whereas in recent years, an average of around 51,000 homes have been completed per year. Moreover, the number of housing permits being granted still falls below the threshold of 80,000 homes per year.

“There is potential for the construction of new homes, given that the building rates for the next 2 or 3 years are unlikely to cover the entire demand”, explained Samuel Población. “The increase in the construction of homes in areas such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Costa del Sol, the Balearic Islands and País Vasco, is key to containing the inflationary trends in prices”, he added.

Controlling the increase in demand for buildable land

(…). According to data from the Ministry of Development, the average price of urban land in provinces such as Madrid, the Balearic Islands and Málaga amounted to 27%, 36% and 40%, respectively, of the historical series (which ranges between the maximum and minimum in the period 2004-2016) in the fourth quarter of 2016. “This suggests an intensification in demand for land in these locations”, said sources at the consultancy.

CBRE warns that in the last few months of 2016 and the first months of 2017, the market for land saw more activity and the number of transactions involving urban plots of land rose by just over 10% in 2016 with respect to 2015 (…).

Original story: Idealista (by D. Marrero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Sold 900 Plots Of Land In YTD Apr17

30 May 2017 – El Español

Sareb (…) has started its fifth year of life in a rather surprising way, by doubling its overall sales between January and April, and by tripling its land sales.

The upwards trend has been on the cards for a couple of years, with the emergence of property developers, such as Neinor, Aedas, Aelca and Kronos. These new stars of the real estate market, which are mainly financed by large investment funds and managed by Spanish professionals, have had to buy up land to support their business plans.

Improvement following the migration of assets to the servicers.

In addition to this overall improvement in the real estate environment, sources at the bad bank also defend the role played by the servicers engaged by Sareb (Altamira, Haya, Servihabitat and Solvia) in this exponential increase in sales. “Last year, not all of the assets had been migrated to their respective platforms, but this year, now that the migration has been completed, the results have improved significantly”, say the sources.

(…) The 3,260 properties sold by Sareb between January and April represent an increase of 87% compared to the same period a year ago. In the case of land, the number of plots sold has tripled, in such a way that the bad bank has managed to divest almost 900 plots of land during the first four months of the year, which is the same number that it sold during the whole of 2016.

Nevertheless, the increases in sales do not correspond to a similar increase in revenues, another trend that has also been seen over the last two years.

Twice as many sales, at half the price

In 2015, Sareb sold 421 plots of land for €335 million, i.e. an average plot price of €800,000. Last year, that average decreased to €400,000. It is true that the number of plots sold increased by 220%, to 927, but the corresponding revenues only grew by 9%, to €366 million.

Sources at the bad bank chaired by Jaime Echegoyen justify this gap by explaining that “increasingly smaller plots of land are being sold now. Moreover, the geographic spectrum has been expanded (…)”.

Call for caution

If the trend recorded until April continues, Sareb should be able to shed around 1,500 plots during 2017, which, at the average price of last year, would allow it to generate revenues of around €600 million. Nevertheless, sources at the bad bank prefer to be prudent. (…).

Unsustainable increase in land prices

The increases in house and land prices, which are being seen in certain areas of Madrid, Barcelona and the Mediterranean Coast, were one of the most talked about phenomena amongst professionals in the real estate sector last week, when they met at SIMA, the Real Estate Conference in Madrid.

In this context, the President of Spanish Property Developers, Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, called for caution. He is not talking openly about the existence of a new bubble and maintains that the increases are still technically a rebound after almost a decade of near paralysis in this market, but he did admit that “the increases that are being seen are not sustainable”. He believes that there isn’t sufficient housing demand to sustain the amount of land that has been acquired over the last year.

Original story: El Español (by Juan Carlos Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Notaries: 48,695 Homes Were Sold In March, Up By 19.5% YoY

23 May 2017 – Aquimicasa.net

According to the notaries, March was a great month for the real estate sector. Despite the scare in February, sales of flats and houses rose by 19.5% in March, to reach 48,695 operations. But, since it can’t be all good news, it is worth noting the statistics published by the General Council of Notaries last Monday, which reveal that the average price of operations decreased by 1.3%.

Our analysis of the data published by the notaries shows that by type of home, flat sales recorded a YoY rise of 20.5% and sales of private (unsubsidised) properties rose by 21.9%. But, as has been happening for years, this increase in the number of private flat transactions was due, exclusively, to an increase in sales of second-hand flats, which rose by 26%, given that sales of new build homes continued their downwards trend, decreasing by 11.5%. Meanwhile, sales of houses and chalets saw a YoY increase of 15.6%.

If we look at the prices achieved, we see that the average price per square metre of the homes purchased in March stood at €1,277, which represents a decrease of 1.3% with respect to the same month last year. According to the notaries’ statistics, the decrease in the price per square metre of homes is due to a reduction in the price per square metre of houses and chalets (-6.2%), given that the price of flats did not vary in March.

Meanwhile, there was a slight increase in the average price per square metre of private (unsubsidised) flats, which rose by 0.3%, split between an increase of 0.8% in the price of second-hand flats and a decrease of -0.6% in the price of new build homes.

The sale of other types of properties saw 11,753 operations closed, which represents an increase of 15.2% compared to the same month last year. 39.7% of those transactions corresponded to plots of land. And despite the rumours of an increase in the price of land, that trend must be happening in specific areas only, given that the average price per square metre amounted to €155, representing a decrease of 10.4% YoY.

Finally, if we look at mortgages, during the month of March, they experienced YoY growth of 5.1%, to reach 32,070 operations, for an average amount of €156,229, in other words, a decrease of 3.4%. Meanwhile, mortgage loans granted for the acquisition of a property increased by 16.8% YoY, to a total of 23,542 contracts. Other mortgages included those used to build a home or to finance business activities.

Original story: Aquimicasa.net

Translation: Carmel Drake

IPE: Málaga’s Land Shortage Will Drive Up House Prices

29 March 2017 – La Opinión de Málaga

During 2017, the Malagan real estate market is expected to continue along the path to recovery that it began two years ago, however, the lack of available buildable land along the Costa del Sol to meet current demand from developers and investors looks set to limit the growth of the sector. That is according to the

That is according to the Institute of Business Practice (IPE), which presented the 24th edition of its Real Estate Pulsimeter for Málaga last week. It warned that this lack of available buildable land in certain municipalities could result in the future effect of a rise in house prices in certain enclaves. In fact, the Director of the IPE’s Real Estate Practice, José Antonio Pérez (pictured above), said that this “new bubble” is already being seen in some parts of the Costa del Sol.

“There is more demand than available supply and if we do not resolve that mismatch, we will see prices rise again. The main problem is the lack of buildable land, understood as land that is suitable for the presentation of plans and for obtaining a licence. (…)”, he said.

In his opinion, the lack of available supply is due, on the one hand, to the “restrictions” imposed by the PGOU and the slowness of the urban planning procedure in certain towns compared to others, and, on the other hand, to the fact that some of these plots of land are owned by individuals and investment funds that are not interested in developing them, for the time being at least. Pérez pointed out that Sareb still owns lots of plots of land that it took over from financial entities, which are “clogging up the market”, despite the fact that the bad bank is working as fast as it can to find an exit from those assets.

As part of this trend, the IPE made reference to the special role being played by the so-called “golden triangle” of the Costa del Sol, which comprises the areas of Marbella west, Benahavís south and Estepona east. There, “the price of buildable land is doubling, products that suit the needs of solvent clients are running out and financial competition between landowners is becoming speculative and monopolistic”. Pérez also explained that, given the lack of available land along the west coast, investors are also starting to look for sites to develop along the east coast.

Málaga leads the way

The figures from the Real Estate Pulsimeter (….) confirm (…) that Málaga is one of the most important areas in terms of the recovery of the sector. (…).

House sales grew by 6% (in Málaga) in 2016 to reach a total of almost 26,200; and the IPE forecasts a similar increase for 2017, which would take the figure to around 27,700. Currently, c. 50% of purchases are paid for in cash and the other half are financed through mortgages, which gives us an idea of the importance of foreign buyers and investors here, as they are the main people who can acquire properties without having to resort to financing.

“Malaga’s position of leadership in the real estate sector is also reflected when we draw comparisons between Spain, Andalucía and Málaga with respect to the growth in the number of housing permits granted in 2016 vs. 2015 – the figure grew by 35% in Málaga, and by 20% and 16.9% in Spain and Andalucía, respectively. Something similar happened with the growth in the number of new homes started – Spain, with growth of 33% in 2016 vs 2015, was a long way below the rate of growth in Málaga (54%)”, says the IPE. (…).

Original story: La Opinión de Málaga (by José Vicente Rodríguez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA Puts 2,900 Homes Up For Sale With Discounts Of <50%

20 January 2017 – Expansión

BBVA’s real estate unit, Anida, has launched a new campaign in which it is offering discounts of up to 50% on a selection of homes spread across the country.

The campaign, which has been baptised “Nuestras casa se van de rebajas”, will run until 28 February and includes 2,287 flats and 584 houses, both second-hand and new developments. All of the information about the development can be found on Anida’s website.

Most of the homes are located in Cataluña, the Community of Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid. BBVA is also offering its clients financing of up to 100% of the purchase value, provided that figure does not exceed 100% of the appraisal value.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

More Than 1,000 New Homes Are Being Built In Sevilla

17 October 2017 – ABC

(…) In the last twelve months in Sevilla, the main initiatives that had been suspended following the decline of companies such as Novaindes, Navicoas and Habitat, have been reactivated. With a few exceptions, the large plots of buildable land in good locations now all have new owners. The clear sign of this trend is that between 2016 and 2019, more than 1,000 new homes will come onto the market in the most sought after areas of Sevilla.

Who is behind these projects? The most spectacular moves have been made by the Murcian property developer Monthisa, which has completed five operations in just ten months to purchase plots of land on which it plans to construct around 350 homes. In February, it signed an agreement with the company Gestión de Inmuebles Adquiridos – which belongs to the Unicaja group – to construct 150 homes in Kansas City 36; a month later it purchased the plot of land in Pagés del Corro 122 from Solvia (the real estate subsidiary of Banco Sabadell) with capacity for 52 apartments; in September, it acquired the Correos warehouses on Calle Fernando Tirado (which will house between 35 and 40 properties) and it signed an agreement with Sareb (also known as the bad bank) to develop the plot of land on Calle de la Florida, where it will build another 84 homes.

The bad bank has been one of the most active players in the real estate sector in Sevilla. Whilst in La Florida, Sareb chose Monthisa, in Carretera de Carmona 43, it appointed Solvia to regenerate the plot of land that used to be home to Tysa Ford. That alliance was signed at the end of 2015 and the construction work (of the more than 200 homes) is due to be completed in March 2019. In parallel, Solvia is also responsible for another one of the star projects in the city centre: 30 homes in the Puerta de Nervión building on Calle José Luis de Casso, opposite the Sánchez Pizjuan stadium.

These projects are different from those seen before 2007. The majority of these developments involve large apartments, with prices of less than €3,000/sqm. According to experts in the sector, the demand for housing now comes from established families in stable economic situations and so the most successful products are those with several bedrooms. According to Ricardo Pumar, Chairman of Inmobiliaria del Sur (Insur), “nowadays, only projects that are well designed, with innovative solutions, high quality finishes and very competitive prices have a chance of success”.

Insur was one of the first companies to detect this change in the cycle. At the end of 2013, it acquired the former Cuartel de Intendencia and there it has launched Pineda Parque, a residential complex that contains three twelve-storey towers and another two eight-storey towers that will house 158 homes (measuring between 140 sqm and 228 sqm, with three, four and five bedrooms). In 2014, it started the construction of Edificio Miraflores, on a plot purchased from Sareb where it is now finishing the construction of 64 homes.

And the final example of this trend is Dospuntos (a group controlled by the American investment fund Värde Partners), which is going to begin the construction of 87 homes soon on a plot of land on the corner of Calle Enramadilla and Avenida de la Buhaira. This plot originally belonged to Pontegran (a company jointly owned by Osuna and San José).

There are still a few projects pending sale, but most of the large plots of land in the city have now been bought up.

Original story: ABC (by Luis Montoto)

Translation: Carmel Drake