Neinor Homes Looks to Invest €90 Million in 2020

3 January 2020 The real estate developer Neinor Homes needs to invest 90 million euros next year to achieve its stated investment goals, which the firm had already reduced in April. The firm has a target of €100 million for 2019-2020 and only investment 10 million euros in two plots of land in the Basque Country last year.

Juan Velayos’s exit last year hit the developer’s stock price and caused aftershocks that affected the rest of Spain’s developers as well.  The firm’s stock fell by 16.68% and has since struggled to reach new highs.

Neinor currently has sufficient land holdings to build approximately 12,500 homes. The land is in the Basque Country (2,500), Catalonia (2,100), Levante (1,300), Andalusia (4,400) and Centro (2,700).

The firm’s principal development is in Alcobendas (Madrid). Aura Homes is currently building 254 2-4-bedroom homes in a large gated residential community.

En español

La promotora inmobiliaria Neinor Homes necesita invertir 90 millones de euros el próximo año para alcanzar sus objetivos de inversión, que la empresa ya había reducido en abril. La firma tiene un objetivo de investir 100 millones de euros en 2019-2020, pero solo invirtió 10 millones de euros en dos terrenos en el País Vasco el año pasado.

La salida de Juan Velayos el año pasado provocó una fuerte caída en el precio de las acciones de la promotora y afectó también al resto de los desarrolladores de España. Las acciones de la empresa cayeron un 16,68% y desde entonces han luchados por alcanzar nuevos máximos.

Neinor actualmente tiene suficientes terrenos para construir aproximadamente 12,500 viviendas. Los terrenos se encuentran en el País Vasco (2.500), Cataluña (2.100), Levante (1.300), Andalucía (4.400) y el Centro (2.700).

El proyecto principal de Neinor se encuentra en Alcobendas (Madrid), donde Aura Homes está construyendo 254 viviendas de 2 a 4 dormitorios en una gran comunidad residencial cerrada.

Original Story: Merca2 – Javier Rosell

Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner

Metrovacesa to Develop Offices and Hotels on 1.2 Million Square of Land by 2023

20 August 2019

Last year, Metrovacesa revealed that its holdings include a gigantic, 6-million-m2 portfolio of land, enough to build 40,000 new homes. That total also 1.25 million square meters of land slated for the construction of offices, hotels and logistics assets.

The firm announced its intention to “sell or develop” most of the 1.25 million square meters by 2023. Metrovacesa revealed plans for four major developments, accounting for 60% of the land bank, in a total investment of almost €390 million. The projects include La City and Loinsa in Barcelona and Clesa and Valdebebas in Madrid. Spain’s two biggest cities account for 86% of the portfolio, and 94% of those lands already have urban planning permits.

The largest of the four is City Metropolitana, in Barcelona’s L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, with a buildable area of ​​135,000 m2. The property company plans to build mostly offices on the site, along with up to 20,000 m2 for hotels. Metrovacesa also has 58,131 m2 of buildable land in Madrid, where it plans to build Valdebebas. That project will likely consist of a 4-building office complex.

Original Story: Cinco Días

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Santander Transfers 400,000-m2 Land Bank to Landmark Iberia

9 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

Banco Santander has transferred approximately 400,000 square meters of land to its newly incorporated real estate developer, Landmark Iberia. The land could provide space for up to 4,000 new homes.

The portfolio, however, consists of a range of types of land running from ready-to-develop land to rural lands not yet zoned for development. Santander created Landmark at the beginning of this year.

Original Story: El Confidencial – RuthUgalde

Habitat Leaves its Losses Behind after €500M Capital Injection from Bain

2 April 2019 – Expansión

Habitat Inmobiliaria recorded revenues of €89 million in 2018, six times more than during the previous year. It also generated a profit, registering an EBITDA of €1.8 million, compared with losses of €9.86 million in 2017.

According to the company, this change in fortune has come about following its purchase by the US investment firm Bain Capital Credit at the end of 2017. Last year, Bain and Habitat’s new management team, launched a new strategic plan for the next three years, which included the contribution of €500 million for land purchases.

In 2018 alone, the property developer invested €121 million buying up land with a total buildability of 300,000 m2. As such, Habitat now owns a land bank spanning more than 1 million m2, which will allow it to build 10,000 new homes over the next few years. Currently, the property developer is working on the construction of 3,400 homes.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

ASG Homes Sets its Sights for Growth on Andalucía

12 March 2019 – ABC Sevilla

ASG Homes, which manages and develops projects for the British fund ActivumSG, owns a stock of land on which it could build 5,000 homes in Spain, making it the seventh or eighth largest property developer in the country by land bank. It largest regional presence is in Andalucía, where it owns land on which to build 1,700 homes, with Sevilla and, specifically, Sevilla Este, accounting for the majority of those plots, where it has capacity for 1,200 homes.

According to the CEO of ASG Homes, Víctor Pérez Arias (pictured above), his firm currently has 600 homes under construction in Sevilla, Estepona and Marbella, whose prices will range between €140,000 and €300,000. Moreover, it is also looking to repeat its activity in Sevilla and so is searching for land to purchase along the coasts of Málaga, Cádiz and Huelva. It is also interested in opening a hotel in Sevilla.

According to Pérez Arias, there is a shortage of buildable land across Spain, which is causing demand to exceed supply, and as such, prices to increase. The delays involved in processing building permits to convert developable land into finalist land is not helping either. In some cases, rather than taking up to 6 months, as permitted by law, those procedures are taking up to 14 or 15 months.

In light of the high level of demand in the rental market, ASG Homes is starting to work on projects in the residential rental market. Besides homes, ASG also promotes shopping centres, student halls, hotels and serviced apartments.

Original story: ABC Sevilla (by María Jesús Pereira)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aedas Purchases Land in Granada for 750 Homes

1 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Aedas Homes is expanding its portfolio. The property developer, which specialises in the new build residential market, is strengthening its presence in Granada capital with the acquisition of land for the construction of more than 750 homes in total. The company is thereby adding new assets to its land bank in the city, where it made its debut at the beginning of 2018.

The property developer is going to undertake residential projects in two sectors located in the north and west of Granada. Sergio Gálvez (pictured above), Director of Strategy and Investment at Aedas Homes, highlights that the company has closed these operations after years analysing the evolution of the residential market in Granada.

The new plots of land acquired by Aedas Homes are located in the Ferrocarril Oeste sector. Besides these plots, the company owns land in the Borde Norte N3 sector, an area located on the northern face of the urban nucleus of Granada.

The CEO of Aedas Homes is David Martínez. The company owns a portfolio of land spanning more than 1.5 million m2 for the construction of more than 14,500 homes in key areas of the country, both from an economic and real estate perspective: Madrid and the Central area, Cataluña, Levante and the Balearic Islands, Andalucía and the Costa del Sol.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Atlético de Madrid will Sell the Calderón Land in Q1 2019

2 February 2019 – Expansión

Following the demolition of the stadium, the club will be able to sell the plots where 600 homes are expected to be built.

The project to urbanise the Mahou-Calderón area, which will convert the surface area currently occupied by Atlético de Madrid’s former stadium into homes and tertiary use, has taken a step forward. Within the next few weeks, work is expected to start on the demolition of the Vicente Calderón, which will enable progress to take place with the reparcelling and subsequent sale of the land.

The Madrilenian club, owner of 50% of the surface area, will then be able to proceed with the sale of the land, which has a surface area of 14,866 m2 and a buildability of more than 63,000 m2. On this plot, between 550 and 600 homes may be built, with prices of around €6,000/m2.

Besides the Madrilenian club, the other owner of the land is Mahou San Miguel. The brewery company has not yet taken a decision regarding the sale of its share.

Candidates

Sources at the club have indicated to Expansión that several parties are interested in these plots, which constitute the last major stock of land left inside the M-30. The potential buyers of the plots include investment funds, property developers, joint ventures between the two and cooperatives. “We are holding very advanced negotiations with three of them with the idea of formalising the operation this quarter”, they state.

In terms of the timings, once work has started on the demolition of the stadium, which is expected to begin in the coming days, the reparceling project will continue, which will last for the months of February and March. Once the plots have been registered in the registry, they will be available for sale. The Project will carry out the urbanisation and building work at the same time in such a way that the homes could be ready within three or four years (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo & E. Santos)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vía Célere Completes its Merger with Aelca to Create a Giant Firm with Land for 25,000 Homes

16 January 2019 – El Confidencial

Vía Célere has completed the integration of the real estate assets (land and property developments) of Aelca, to become one of the largest property developers in Spain with a gross asset volume (GAV) of €2.2 billion and a land bank for the construction of 25,000 homes. From today, the company has the capacity to deliver an estimated 2,000 homes in 2019 and 5,000 homes in 2021.

To put that into context, Metrovacesa owns land for the construction of 38,000 homes, has a GAV of €2.6 billion, and so it is still the largest property developer in Spain. Meanwhile, Aedas has land for 14,521 homes and a GAV of €1.6 billion, whilst Neinor, with a GAV of €1.7 billion, has land for another 13,500 units.

Following the operation, Värde is now the owner of 75% of the shares in Vía Célere, whilst the other minority shareholders (Marathon, Attestor, BAML, Barclays, DB and JPM) own the remaining 25% stake. The company is also strengthening the diversification of its asset portfolio with 38% in Madrid, 20% in Málaga, 11% in Barcelona, 9% in Sevilla, 5% in Valencia and 17% in other provinces across the rest of Spain.

The purchase of Aelca by Vía Célere was made with one clear objective in mind: to grow the company so as to be able to list it on the stock market, given that the transaction has allowed the company chaired by Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado (pictured above) to incorporate assets worth €1.3 billion (…).

Future stock market debut?

Since then, the rumours regarding the possible stock market debut of Vía Célere have been constant (…). In fact, it was initially scheduled for the spring of 2018, but it was always known that the property developer needed to be larger to be able to compete in the market with Neinor, Metrovacesa and Aedas (…).

Original story: El Confidencial 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Habitat Completes the Purchase of 4 Plots of Land for €14M

21 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Habitat is also going Christmas shopping. The property developer, in which Bain Capital holds a stake, is going to complete the acquisition of four plots of land next week, with a combined investment of €14 million, according to a statement from José Carlos Saz (pictured below), the CEO of the company, speaking to Eje Prime.

With these transactions, the company is planning to end the year with €127 million of investment in the acquisition of buildable land for the construction of 2,800 homes. “We have exceeded the forecasts that we announced in October”, said the Executive, who also added that the company has focused its efforts beyond “the areas where everyone else is building, such as the Costa del Sol, Madrid and Levante”, especially during the final stage of the year.

Proof of that includes two of its latest land purchases: one in Sevilla, announced yesterday and involving the acquisition of two plots, and the other in Oviedo, which has resulted in the company’s debut in Asturias. “We have no predilection for any city or region in particular, rather we expand to wherever there is demand and we can generate returns on our investment”, said the director.

Rigour and realism are the two factors that are governing this new phase for the property developer, which starred in Spain’s second largest bankruptcy proceeding in 2008. “The arrival of Bain Capital has represented a critical boost for the re-launch of the company”, confessed Saz. In fact, the company aims to invest €500 million in the purchase of land across the country between now and 2021.

Despite the property developer’s ambitious plans, its CEO clarified that its objectives do not include “becoming one of the largest firms” or being the company that sells the most homes. In this sense, the executive confirmed that “under no circumstances”, does his firm want to return to having a workforce of 900 workers, like it did with the first Habitat. For Saz, the ideal team would comprise around 130 people, 77 of which have already been recruited during 2018.

Similarly, expansion into Portugal does not form one of the company’s objectives either. In fact, Habitat has opted for a policy of divesting the assets located overseas that it inherited from its first phase.

Challenges (…)

For  José Carlos Saz, the major challenges facing the property developer sector at the moment are the lack of buildable land, the increase in construction costs and the need to finish professionalising and standardising the industry (…).

By the end of 2018, Habitat’s land portfolio will comprise a surface area of 1.1 million m2, with capacity for the construction of 10,000 homes. Currently, the company has 33 developments under construction, corresponding to 3,000 homes in total. Of those, 800 units are in the construction phase and the rest are in the planning phase. This year, the company has started to market 1,700 homes and has handed over 270 residential assets distributed across three developments.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Berta Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes Buys Land in Granada on which to Build 600 Homes

6 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Aedas is expanding its presence in Andalucía. The listed Spanish property developer has purchased land in Granada, on which it is going to build 600 homes over the coming years. The plots are located in two expansion areas of the Nasrid capital, according to a statement issued by the company.

The property developer is going to start work on the construction of the first homes during the first quarter of 2019, within the West Railway area, an urban development where construction has been suspended for more than a decade. Now, the Town Hall has unblocked the land and the company is working on its urbanisation.

The other plot of land acquired by Aedas in Granada is located in the so-called North Rim N3, an area to the north of the urban nucleus of the capital, where the property developer has the objective of starting the urbanisation project next summer.

Recently, the company began the sale of its sixth development in Sevilla and Málaga capital, where it made its debut with 87 new homes in the Teatinos neighbourhood, one of the trendy areas of the Málagan region.

Aedas owns a portfolio of finalist land spanning more than 1.5 million m2 for the construction of more than 14,500 homes across the country, in the Central region as well as in Cataluña, Levante, the Balearic Islands and Andalucía.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake