La Generalitat Resumes the Auction of Various Rental Homes in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat

12 June 2019 – El Confidencial

La Generalitat de Cataluña is resuming the public auction of a rental home portfolio for which it hopes to obtain proceeds €6.2 million, having applied a discount of 20% to the asking price last year (€7.7 million).

The assets in the portfolio are all located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) on Calle Ciencies 15-23, next to Plaza Europa and the Gran Vía 2 shopping centre. They comprise 16 homes, 2 commercial premises, 23 parking spaces with storerooms plus 3 terraced single-family homes located in the urbanisation behind that building on Calles Mileva Maric 33 and 49 and Hanna Arendt, 3. In total, the assets have a combined surface area of 2,448 m2 and are leased almost in their entirety, with just one home and the commercial premises vacant.

The assets are owned by Fira 2000, in which the Catalan government holds a 50%, alongside the Town Halls of Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The deadline for bids is 22 July and the online auction will be held on 29 July through Addmeet.  

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

La Generalitat Approves a Law to Limit Rental Prices in Cataluña

21 May 2019 – Eje Prime

The executive led by Quim Torra has approved a royal decree to limit residential rental prices in Cataluña so that they will not exceed 10% of the reference index in neighbourhoods and cities with an “accredited lack of affordable housing”.

That percentage increases to 20% in the case of new or completely refurbished homes for the five years following the building work. Meanwhile, for flats with exceptional views, swimming pools or gardens, the percentage may rise to 25%.

The decree considers areas with a “tense housing market” to be those municipalities where the provision of affordable rental housing is at risk. In particular, it makes reference to towns where rental prices have grown sustainably by more than average and where the increase in the demographic density is not being matched by the growth in the housing stock, amongst other factors.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

La Generalitat Withdraws its Housing Law Due to Lack of Support

9 April 2019 – Eje Prime

The Catalan government has decided to withdraw the decree law that it approved at the beginning of March containing urgent measures to improve access to housing.

The law was going to be put to the vote on Wednesday but in the end, the executive led by Quim Torra pulled the bill at the last minute due to a lack of support.

The plan is to present the law to the Parliament again following the elections on 26 May.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Town Hall of Barcelona Buys a 114-Home Social Housing Block

27 December 2018 – La Vanguardia

On Thursday, the Town Hall of Barcelona announced the completion of the purchase of a building located at number 7 Calle Encuny containing 114 protected homes. The property, located in the heart of the Marina del Prat Vermell neighbourhood, belonged to the entity Proviure CZF Parc d’Habitatges, a company formed by BBVA and the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (Consortium of the Zona France of Barcelona). “With this operation, we ensure that the housing block will not be sold to vulture funds”, said the mayor of the city, Ada Colau, who referred to the purchases that such investment groups have been carrying out in various cities.

The acquisition has involved an investment of €5.8 million by the Town Hall. This building is the largest that Ada Colau’s government has purchased to date, which so far in its mandate, has acquired another 21 entire blocks. In total, including this new property, the Town Hall has acquired 661 flats since 2015, which has involved a total disbursement of €64.12 million. “It takes a long time to build social housing units. And we have to respond to a problem that is worrying a lot of citizens”, said the mayor.

According to Colau, of the 114 flats that are going to be incorporated into the Town Hall’s public stock, around 59 are empty, but in a very good condition (the development was built in 2007), and so it is expected that around 30 will be incorporated into the social emergency pool in January, where around 480 family units are still waiting to be assigned a home.

“We need the Generalitat to start making housing policies in Barcelona”, said the mayor Colau, who has accused the regional government of not fulfilling its obligations in this regard. “The Town Hall takes care of 78% of the demand from the social emergency pool when it should be covering 40%. It is assuming a responsibility that corresponds to the Generalitat”, said Colau.

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Raúl Montilla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

La Generalitat Blocks Colau’s Initiative to Dedicate 30% of New Builds to Social Housing

21 November 2018 – Eje Prime

The Government of Cataluña is blocking Ada Colau’s star initiative in terms of public housing, for the time being at least. The mayor of Barcelona has faced a setback following the decision of the Sub-Committee for Urban Planning, which has decided to postpone the ratification of the municipal agreement stating that 30% of new build properties in the city must be dedicated to social housing.

Colau was outraged by the decision, which she blamed on the Catalan Ministry for Land and Sustainability, which reports into La Generalitat and which “is now seeking to include changes and increase the extensions”, lamented the mayor.

“I do not want to think that La Generalitat has yielded to the pressures of any of the very powerful real estate groups”, added Colau. She is surprised because PDeCAT and ERC, allies in the regional government, “want to introduce reductions when those same parties approved the measure in the Town Hall”.

“The Sub-Committee for Urban Planning does not have to give an opinion on this measure, it just has to approve it”, said the mayor. “It is unacceptable: La Generalitat should not downgrade a municipal proposal, which in this case is also well argued legally and economically and which has already been approved”, said Colau.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Corp Promotors Acquires Plot Next to La Sagrera Station in Barcelona for €10.4M

17 October 2018 – Europa Press

The real estate company Corp Promotors has acquired a plot of land spanning 1,512 m2 located next to the future La Sagrera AVE train station in Barcelona for €10.44 million.

The Catalan firm has fought off competition from three companies in the bid for the plot, which was opened by the public company responsible for the development of the station, an entity in which the Ministry of Development, La Generalitat de Cataluña and the Town Hall of Barcelona all hold stakes.

The plot, which is located in an area that has “great potential for growth” in Barcelona, can be used for building both homes and commercial premises.

Specifically, it has a buildability of 8,221 m2, of which 7,346 m2 will be used for homes and the remaining 875 m2 will be used for shops.

The land forms part of the plots freed up for railway use generated by the construction of the station. The amount obtained from its auction will contribute to financing the new railway.

In fact, the joint venture company that is developing the station has obtained 63% more than the estimated sales price for this plot, of €6.4 million. That was what allowed Corp Promotors to acquire the land and fight off competition from the other three firms that were also bidding for it.

The company behind the construction of La Sagrera station is owned by the Ministry of Development through its companies Adif, which holds a 37.5% stake, and Renfe, which owns another 12.5% stake. The Town Hall of Barcelona owns 15% and La Generalitat the remaining 25%.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

“Anti-Eviction Law” Reveals that CaixaBank has 5,000+ Empty Homes in Valencia

7 October 2018 – Valencia Plaza

La Generalitat is pushing ahead with its count of empty homes in the hands of owners of large property portfolios in the Community of Valencia. Reporting of these types of assets is now mandatory under the Law for the Social Function of Housing – known as the Valencian “anti-eviction law”, – a text that was watered down by the Constitutional Court (CC) but in whose articles the Consell still retains the tools to demand the reporting of unoccupied assets and to impose fines in the event of a lack of collaboration.

The Valencian Government reactivated the count following the recent ruling from the CC. The most recent figure provided by the Conselleria de Vivienda amounts to 7,315 homes across the length and breadth of the Community: 45% in the province of Valencia, 38% in Castellón and the remaining 17% in Alicante. But the most striking fact comes from the analysis of the owners, given that a total of 5,270 homes are owned by the CaixaBank Group.

The bulk, according to data provided to this newspaper by the socialist Minister María José Salvador, corresponds to 5,065 empty homes reported by BuildingCenter, the company owned by CaixaBank “focused on the divestment of the portfolio of properties proceeding from the group”, according to the company’s own motto -. The remainder to arrive at the total of 5,270 units corresponds to 148 reported directly by Caixabank, 51 from Banco de Valencia, 5 from Credifimo and 1 from Gestión Fondos Credifimo.

Almost all of the homes owned by the group in the Community come from foreclosures made by the now extinct Banco de Valencia, which was awarded to La Caixa for €1 in 2012 under the framework of the bank restructuring. As a result, the data provided by CaixaBank to La Generalitat reveal that, six years later, the stock of assets proceeding from the extinct Valencian bank continues to be very bulky.

In addition to the empty homes reported by the CaixaBank group, the other properties to reach the total of 7,315 units are owned by Sareb (1,598 homes) and Grupo Santander (447), split into the companies Altamira Santander Real Estate (339), Banco Santander (67), Luri 6 SA (36) and Santander Consumer Finance (6) (…).

Register of uninhabited homes (…)

The law provides for the creation of the Register of Uninhabited Homes (…) so that all of the homes that are declared uninhabited by the administration can be grouped together and “housing solutions can be granted to those people who need them most”. The objective of the administration is to “mobilise the more than 500,000 empty homes that there are in the Community”, according to estimates.

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by Dani Valero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Criteria Raises the Price of the Plots for Hard Rock Café Complex in Tarragona

8 October 2018 – El Confidencial

Criteria, the holding company of the investment companies owned by La Caixa, has increased the price of the plots on which Hard Rock Café Entertainment World is set to be built. The new leisure and casino complex is due to be constructed in Tarragona, next to Port Aventura. That is according to explanations provided by sources in the real estate sector to justify the delay in the project, formerly BCN World, which constitutes the largest foreign investment pending in Cataluña and which will involve the disbursement of €2 billion in total.

Criteria had closed an option to sell the land worth €110 million. But that was in December 2014. Now that Hard Rock Café, a multinational from the United States of America specialising in hotel and restaurant complexes linked to casinos, wants to exercise the option, Criteria is claiming that the real estate market has recovered in the last four years and so the price needs to be updated.

Sources at Criteria declined to comment but other sources in the real estate sector explained that a new due diligence process is being carried out to determine the magnitude of the price increase. The new price is expected to amount to around €140 million, a claim that has been rejected wholeheartedly by the Hard Rock Café, which alleges, and rightly so, that the delays incurred by the project (…) which now amount to more than three years, cannot be attributed to the company.

According to the original plan, the project should have been ready by 2015. But, partly due to the withdrawal of investments, and partly due to the political instability in Cataluña, the complex has suffered various delays.

Hard Rock Café is the only company that survived the bidding process for the gambling licences and is now the main party responsible for developing the complex. The forecast investment in Tarragona amounts to €2 billion for the construction of Hard Rock Entertainment World, which will have two hotels and 1,100 rooms, a shopping area with 75 shops – which will be operated by the British giant Value Retail, owner of Las Rozas and La Roca – and a 10,000 m2 casino. The project is expected to create more than 11,000 jobs and will be carried out in phases: the first amounting to €600 million.

When the initial investor withdrew, which was led by the businessman Enrique Bañuelos, La Generalitat subrogated the option to purchase the land, as a way of ensuring the continuity of the project. But that operation is neutral. La Generalitat would only perform a transfer and the final investor would have to pay the price of the plots. The Administration does not want to assume the surcharge that the new valuation would now result in.

Different positions

Each party defends its position. For Hard Rock Café, it cannot make its company or the other investors responsible for the delays incurred and therefore, does not want to assume the additional cost.

Meanwhile, Criteria has renewed the sale option, which had a term of 18 months, on up to four occasions to ensure that the investment would not go to waste, and considers that its efforts should also be rewarded.

An agreement must be reached between the parties soon (…). This project is key for Cataluña and will only serve to turn around the foreign investment figures that have been negative for the Catalan Administration since the independence process entered its critical phase.

Licence in May

In May 2018, Hard Rock Café obtained the licence for the project, which includes the gambling licence for the casino, granted by La Generalitat. That administrative permit arrived a year late due to the political instability in Cataluña. Now, Hard Rock Café, which is owned by a tribe of Seminole Indians (Florida) has three years to submit its plans. La Generalitat expects the building work to begin in 2019. The negotiations with Criteria could mean more delays if the positions fester, warn sources in the real estate sector.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

La Generalitat to Auction c.20 Homes in Barcelona for €6M

29 May 2018 – Eje Prime

La Generalitat is going to auction off inhabited homes in Barcelona. The Catalan government is going to sell around twenty homes in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat for an asking price of €7.7 million in the first auction and €6.2 million in the second, according to information provided in La Generalitat’s Official Gazette.

The residential portfolio for sale comprises 16 homes and three detached houses, all of which are rental properties and all of which are currently occupied. The auction will be conducted in blocks in order to prevent the tenants from using the right of first refusal over their own homes. Nevertheless, the future owner of the homes is going to have to subrogate the lease contracts.

The apartments for sale are located opposite Plaza Europa and the Gran Vía 2 shopping centre in L’Hospitalet, at numbers 15-23 Calle Ciencies. In those blocks, in addition to the homes, La Generalitat is going to auction off two premises and 23 parking spaces with storerooms. With regard to the detached family homes, they are located on another urbanisation, on Calles Mileva Maric and Hanna Arendt.

The current tenants of the apartments pay between €800, in the case of the homes with the oldest rents, and €1,600 per month for the detached family homes. Each home has a surface area that ranges between 78 m2 and 120 m2 and has two, three or four bedrooms.

The auction, which will see the deadline for the presentation of offers close on 9 July, will be held on the 19th of that same month through Addmeet, the online real estate platform that has already managed other large public sales in other Spanish cities.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Europa Capital Invests €140M+ in c.10 Developments in Barcelona

9 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The British fund Europa Capital is continuing its firm commitment to Spain hand in hand with the property developer Bonavista. The group has already invested more than €140 million in the launch of around ten developments in Barcelona, according to Jacinto Roqueta, co-founder of Bonavista, speaking to Eje Prime. In addition, the fund, which still has investor appetite in the country, is continuing to search for opportunities in the Catalan capital, as well as along the Mediterranean arc.

Bonavista was founded by real estate professionals Alex Miquel Molleví, Marcus Donaldson and Jacinto Roqueta in June 2014. “We saw that there was no stable supply of luxury real estate developments in Barcelona and that it was very difficult to find capital to invest”, says Roqueta. The company managed to seduce Europa Capital into joining forces and carrying out its first purchases in the country.

“Since then, Europa Capital has invested more than €140 million in Barcelona buying land, properties to renovate and constructing developments in more than eight projects”, explains Roqueta.

One of the first investments undertaken by Bonavista and Europa Capital in Spain was the purchase of Casa Burés. Not without controversy, the fund acquired the modernist building in December 2014, for which it paid €18.8 million to the La Generalitat, which had purchased it from the Town Hall of Barcelona for €26 million.

“After a lot of hard work to ensure we respected the guidelines for historical buildings and carried out an artisan renovation, most of the building has now been sold, although a few homes are still available”, explains the director. Casa Burés is located on the corner of Calles Girona and Ausiàs March, in a building containing 29 homes, penthouses and lofts measuring between 100 m2 and 500 m2 each. The delivery of the homes, most of which have been acquired by international buyers, will take place at the end of this year.

Since 2010, Europa Capital, which is headquartered in London, has had two high profile shareholders, the Rockefeller and Mitsubishi groups. Since 1995, Europa Capital has invested €6 billion in different real estate projects in seventeen countries across Europe, mostly in Eastern Europe. In 2015, it set its sights on Barcelona, to take advantage of the city’s international profile and the drop in prices in the real estate market caused by the crisis.

After Casa Burés, Bonavista and Europa Capital continued buying new buildings to renovate them. Its purchases included the property located at number 33 Calle Caspe, where the company has already managed to sell and handover the entire development, which comprises 26 homes (…).

But Europa Capital does not only have its focus set on the Catalan capital, it is also working in Madrid. There, the company has teamed up with a firm specialising in renovations and property development Richelieu (founded by Marcus Donaldson, who is also a co-founder of Bonavista) and with which it has invested more than €75 million in the Madrilenian market.

One of Richelieu’s projects in Madrid is located on Calle General Martínez Campos, 19, just a stone’s throw from Paseo de la Castellana, where the company is planning to build luxury homes. The property was acquired last year by Europa Capital and the project will involve an investment of €25 million (…).

Last year, the company also acquired number 16 Calle Madrigal, in Madrid. That new build residential development is located in Colonia Puerta de Hierro and will comprise around twenty homes designed by Bueso-Inchausti & Rein Arquitectos. Europa Capital and Richelieu have invested €50 million in that project.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake