Savills: Cataluña will Add 340,000 m2 of Logistics Land to its Stock by 2020

7 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Cataluña is going to increase its stock in the logistics market. Over the next two years, the region is going to add 340,000 m2 of industrial land to its portfolio, of which 275,546 m2 will be incorporated in 2019, according to data from the consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

Next year alone, nine assets will be debuted, which will be available as leased spaces spanning a combined surface area of 164,746 m2. For 2020, several projects have already been signed with logistics operators, to incorporate 68,500 m2 into the logistics sector. In this sense, the consultancy firm expects to increase the signing of at-risk projects with a leading role for overseas funds, which are taking positions in land and investment operations.

This year, the Catalan logistics market has increased its stock of new surface area by 459,112 m2, a rise of 8.5% with respect to the previous year. It is an increase that responds to the strong performance of the sector, which closed the third quarter with 493,615 m2 of space leased, up by 56% compared to the same period in 2017. Those figures invite Savills Aguirre Newman to predict that 600,000 m2 of space will have been absorbed in total by the end of the year.

During 2018, some major logistics projects have been launched in the region, such as the 81,000 m2 complex built in La Bisbal del Penedès. That space is 68% occupied by ID Logistic, which has Kiabi as a tenant. Moreover, Sesé Logística and the e-commerce group Vente Privee have absorbed 50,000 m2 of space each.

The first ring and the centre are the preferred areas

By volume of operations, the first ring and the prime-centre are the two areas that have recorded the most activity during 2018. Those two areas registered joint growth of 50% during the third quarter, with 375,000 m2 of surface area leased.

The third ring was the only area that reduced its activity during the third quarter, with a decrease of 11.69%. Nevertheless, it will be the area that accounts for the greatest availability of consolidated warehouses in 2019, with three assets that will account for 52% of the total.

In terms of rents, rental prices have grown by 6.5% on average this year, whilst the availability rate in Cataluña currently amounts to less than 3%. In this regard, professionals from the sector who participated in a conference organised by the consultancy firm emphasised the need for public institutions to collaborate with the private sector for the development of new industrial and logistics areas.

Warehouse measuring between 2,500 m2 and 5,000 m2.

Currently, the most sought-after warehouses by the logistics market in Barcelona are assets measuring between 2,500 m2 and 5,000 m2. 31% of the spaces leased this year have involved warehouses of that size, compared with 27% of operations that have been signed for assets with surface areas of between 5,000 m2 and 10,000 m2.

The strong performance of the Catalan logistics segment is also being replicated in Madrid. In the vicinity of the Spanish capital, 637,000 m2 of space had been leased by the end of the third quarter, up by 4% compared to the same period last year.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Draje