Tag: leasing

CBRE: Logistics Investment in Valencia Doubled to €60M+ in 2017

18 April 2018 – Las Provincias

The logistics business in the Community of Valencia skyrocketed last year. Logistics investment in Valencia doubled to exceed €60 million in 2017. The increase was driven primarily by large operations such as the purchase by TH Real Estate of Carrefour’s platform in Ribarroja and the acquisition by P3 Logistics of another platform that had formed part of GreenOak’s logistics portfolio.

That is according to a report compiled by the real estate consultancy CBRE, which places Valencia behind Madrid and Barcelona in the ranking of cities based on interest from funds in investing in logistics. On the other hand, leasing of logistics space also reached a new record in Valencia in 2017 with more than 220,000 m2 of space transacted.

The study reports that the logistics stock in Valencia amounts to 2,244,000 m2, of which just 20% may be considered as prime or maximum quality product. This increase is due both to the construction of new logistics warehouses and the renovation and adaptation of old industrial warehouses for this new use.

Lack of supply

Despite the delivery of more than 65,000 m2 of newly-built logistics warehouses, the availability rate decreased to 4.3% in 2017. The data shows the increase in demand for large spaces (measuring more than 10,000 m2, which accounted for 50% of the space leased last year). By area, the region to the north of Valencia accounts for the highest percentage of available industrial space with 13,200 m2 (6.4%), followed by the central area with 53,100 m2 (9.7%) and finally the south with 30,500 m2 (5.1%).

Ribarroja is still the most sought-after area with the highest leasing volumes. In fact, 15 of the 27 operations recorded in 2017, which together saw 125,000 m2 of the surface area contracted and which represented 60% of the total space leased (were located there). The continuous increase in demand and the scarce supply of quality products has caused prime rents to increase by 25% to €51/m2/year.

The centre of Valencia saw the highest price rises for both land, between €150/m2 and 225/m2, and rent, between €3/m2/month and €4.25/m2/month. The north and south regions recorded similar rental prices, between €2.75/m2/month and €3.90/m2/month, although the southern region was slightly more expensive than the north with prices of around €200/m2.

Original story: Las Provincias (by Á. Mohorte)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BNP Paribas: Record-Breaking 39,500 m2 of Office Space Leased in Valencia in 2017

22 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Offices are breaking records in Valencia. The leasing of office space in the Mediterranean city reached a historical high in 2017, amounting to 39,500 m2, according to a report compiled by BNP Paribas Real Estate. Moreover, the good behaviour in terms of demand led to a slight upward trend in rental prices, which are now approaching €14.50/m2/month in the most iconic buildings of the old town, around the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.

“Since the end of 2013, the final year of the economic recession, demand has behaved in a positive way”, explain sources at the consultancy firm. The activity drivers that have grown by the most in recent months have been the construction sector, together with the services and industrial sectors.

“Demand has not focused on a particular area, given that between 8,000 m2 and 12,000 m2 of office space has been leased in each of the four areas that comprise the market.” In the prime area, 8,300 m2 of space was leased, a much higher figure than the average for the area over the last ten years (3,000 m2)”, they maintain.

“The good results in terms of space leased in recent years, coupled with the lack of new build projects, are generating a considerable reduction in terms of the availability rate in the Valencian market, which, at the end of 2017, decreased to 10.4%, over a total stock of 774,000 m2, which means that currently, there is 80,546 m2 of space available in the market”, conclude the sources at BNP.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

‘Improving Logistics’ Leases 30,000 m2 of Space in Ribarroja

20 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The largest logistics operator in Valencia has moved into the most sought-after industrial estate in the Mediterranean city. ‘Improving Logistics’ has installed itself in Ribarroja with 30,000 m2 of logistics space, after signing up to lease three warehouses in the complex.

With assets measuring 14,000 m2, 9,000 m2 and 7,000 m2, respectively, ‘Improving’ is seeking to continue with its growth plan in the multi-customer logistics segment. The Valencian operator already occupies a surface area of more than 110,000 m2 in the province.

On the El Oliveral Industrial Estate, the company has leased a logistics warehouse spanning 7,000 m2 and a logistics platform with a constructed surface area of 14,000 m2, whilst the other warehouse it has leased is located on the Sector 14 industrial estate, also in the town of Ribarroja.

‘Improving’ has grown by up to 60% in recent years, which has pushed it up the ranking of the main logistics operators in Valencia. Created in 2003, the company operates at the international level, rendering services ranging from storage, customs warehousing, sea and land transportation, and real-time management of logistics processes.

Last year, the industrial park in Ribarroja accounted for 80% of all of the investments made by the sector in the metropolitan area of Valencia. There, Mercadona signed one of the largest purchases of logistics spaces in the autonomous region, with the acquisition of more than 23,700 m2 of land. In total, 107,000 m2 of space was purchased on this industrial estate in a dozen operations, according to a report compiled by BNP Paribas Real Estate.

With this new operation, Valencia is also consolidating its position as one of the regions of the country with the highest volume of logistics space leased. In 2017, the autonomous region saw a record 220,000 m2 of space leased, and now it is starting to experience problems in terms of a shortage of prime assets, with an average availability rate of 4.3%.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Forcadell: 12% More Office Space was Leased in Barcelona in 2017 (340,000 m2)

23 February 2018 – Eje Prime

In 2017, the office business in the Catalan capital recorded its highest volume of activity for ten years. According to the real estate consultancy Forcadell, 340,000 m2 of office space was leased in Barcelona in 2017, up by 12.2% compared to the previous year and also higher than the volume recorded in 2015, even though both years also saw record leasing figures. Moreover, the lack of space in the city of Barcelona has driven the office market to the outskirts of the city over the last 2 years – peripheral areas accounted for 20% of all of the space leased in 2017.

According to data from Forcadell, the availability rate of offices in Barcelona is continuing its downward trend, moving from 9.3% during the first half of 2017 to 8.8% by the end of 2017.

“That gradual decrease in product availability is due to the good leasing rate and the rapid absorption rate recorded over the last 2 years, and in particular during 2017”, say sources at the consultancy firm.

In terms of demand, the office market in Barcelona closed the second half of 2017 with an increase in demand of 9.2% with respect to the same period a year earlier. Demand for surface areas spanning more than 1,000 m2 was concentrated in the New Business Districts, specifically in 22@ and the Zona Franca, whilst demand for smaller surface areas rose in the prime and Central areas.

According to Forcadell, the average price per m2 of offices in Barcelona amounted to €13.5/m2/month at the end of 2017. During the second half of the year, office rents in the Catalan capital continued to show moderate increases in almost all areas, in line with the trend observed over the last 5 years. The average YoY variation in Barcelona amounted to 8%, identical to the increase recorded in H1 2017.

The consultancy firm’s outlook for the year ahead is that the office market in Barcelona will continue to attract interest from investors. “They are increasingly demanding a minimum rating category, given that that has become an essential requirement for companies moving into new work spaces”, say sources at Forcadell. Moreover, international funds specialising in the comprehensive renovation of office buildings have also shown interest in the Barcelona market, a trend that is expected to intensify during 2018 and 2019.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Co-Working Operators Leased 5-Times More Office Space in 2017

8 February 2018 – Expansión

Operators of co-working offices are gaining strength in Spain and multiplied by five times the space leased in 2017, to 40,500 m2.

The international co-working giants –WeWork, Regus, Glue Concept and Busining– are claiming their space in Spain and have recorded a milestone in the leasing of co-working office space in Madrid and Barcelona.

Last year, 40,500 m2 was leased for use by these kinds of work spaces, which represents a five-fold increase in the figure recorded the previous year, according to explanations provided by the real estate consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman.

Sources at the consultancy firm explain that the arrival of international operators has definitively reactivated the so-called serviced office sector in Spain, which includes business centres and co-working spaces.

Specifically, Regus, WeWork, Busining and Glue Concept closed 15 office space rental operations in Spain last year. Those operators opted for new and renovated buildings, with large and bright spaces, locations that are well-connected by public transport and with excellent services for their users in the vicinity of the offices, explained Ana Zavala, National Director of the Offices Agency at Savills Aguirre Newman.

By city, Madrid accounted for 82% of the surface area leased, whilst Barcelona represented 18%. By number of operations, 53% corresponded to Madrid, compared with 47% to Barcelona.

For the consultancy firm, the participation of this new model in the global office calculation for Madrid and Barcelona still has room for growth, as it currently accounts for around 5%. Thus, whilst in Madrid and Barcelona, the leasing by these types of business accounted for 3% in 2016, in London, they represented 10%.

“The growth in terms of leasing has been very significant in 2017, but the model is still very new in Madrid and Barcelona, and will depend on the success and demand that is generated. London is a much more mature market in terms of co-working in Europe and there the market share has amounted to around 9%-10% of the volume leased over the last two years”, said Zavala.

For the National Director of the Offices Agency at Savills Aguirre Newman, the benefits of these spaces are attractive for SMEs and micro-companies used to working in a collaborative way (…).

New players

In an effort to take advantage of the new needs in the market, the large Spanish Socimis Colonial and Merlin have also taken their first steps into this business. In this way, in October, the Catalan Socimi closed an agreement to acquire a controlling stake in the co-working platform Utopic_US. That agreement also includes the development of a strategic plan through successive capital injections by Colonial. Utopic_US, founded by 2010, has three centres in Madrid and will open another one in Barcelona within the next few weeks.

Also in October, Merlin announced the purchase of a stake in Loom House. In the case of the Socimi led by Ismael Clemente, its alliance with Loom House involves jointly converting some of the buildings in Merlin’s portfolio into co-working office spaces. Loom House currently has two co-working centres in Madrid, one in the Atocha area and another on Calle Huertas.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alibaba Signs Lease for its New HQ in Spain

14 December 2017 – Eje Prime

The Chinese giant Alibaba is shaking up the office market in Madrid as the year-end approaches. The Asian e-commerce group has been negotiating for several months to open offices in Madrid from where to lead its operations in the Spanish market. In the end, it has signed a rental agreement for its Spanish headquarters at number 4 Avenida Europa, in Alcobendas, a building owned by the real estate group Gosa. Until now, the technology firm Paypal also had its headquarters in the building (…).

Alibaba will move its Spanish team to the new offices in Alcobendas, which measure approximately 1,000 m2, in the middle of February, according to sources close to the operation. At the moment, the Asian giant’s employees are managing the firm’s Spanish operations from a co-working office. Alibaba has declined to comment on the planned move.

Alibaba’s arrival at number 4 Avenida Europa comes just months after Paypal’s departure from the same building. Currently, that US firm shares offices with Google and Intel in Torre Picasso, as revealed by Eje Prime.

The property that will house Alibaba’s new offices is also home to the headquarters of the cosmetics group Clarins and the Chinese firm Ansteel. Commscope is another company that had its headquarters located in the building until the middle of 2017, but in July it decided to move to number 19 on the same street.

Alcobendas has become one of the hubs of business excellence in Madrid. Indra, VASS, Emerson, Televent, Acciona, Bankinter, Europcar, Canon and Toyota are just some of the multinational companies that have chosen to locate their offices in the Madrilenian town.

Alibaba’s new office, which the company has been anticipating since February, has the capacity to accommodate the almost forty people that make up its Spanish workforce. The team is led by Estela Ye, who was promoted to General Manager of the company in Spain in March.

The office market in Madrid

Leasing of office space during the third quarter of the year in Madrid amounted to 93,173 m2, which represented an increase of 2% with respect to the same period in 2016, although, according to a report from Aguirre Newman, 16 fewer operations were closed (96).

One of the most active areas in the capital was the Other Business District (RDN), which accounted for 31% of the total space leased. Nevertheless, the report highlights that leasing in the Central Business District (27% of the total) and in the OUT area (23%), saw the most significant increases, more than doubling their figures with respect to the same period in 2016.

In terms of rents, the maximum recorded during Q3 was €36/m2/month, whilst the average rent in the CBD area was €28.96/m2/month. In the Decentralised area, the average rent amounted to €12.71/m2/month.

Original story: Eje Prime (by A. Pijuán)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Miu Miu Moves Into Store On C/Serrano 54

20 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Change of tenants on Madrid’s most luxurious street. The luxury firm Miu Miu, owned by the Prada group, is finalising the opening of a new establishment on Calle Serrano, a store that was occupied until now by the historical shoe shop Lurueña.

Prada will thus become the tenant of the Lurueña family, which owns the property. The establishment, measuring more than 250 m2 over two floors, is located at number 54 Calle Serrano. According to sources in the sector, the operation has been brokered by Cushman & Wakefield.

As well as the chain of shoe shops and the management of its premises (many of which it owns outright), the Lurueña family also operates another business line, franchising restaurants. Until 2006, Lurca, a company owned by the Lurueña family, was the second largest franchisee in Spain of the chain Burger King. One branch of the family is still linked to the restaurant sector as franchisees of the 100 Montaditos breweries and the pizza chain Papizza.

The family’s decision to generate returns from its premises by leasing them out instead of operating them commercially is not unique. In Barcelona, the owners of the also historical Mercería Santa Ana (haberdashery) have done the same thing in Portal de l’Àngel in Barcelona, the most expensive street in Spain for opening a store. The owners have moved their business to a neighbouring street and have leased the premises to Oysho, Inditex’s underwear chain.

Until now, Miu Miu operated in the Salamanca neighbourhood in a smaller store at number 72 Claudio Coello. Meanwhile, Prada has its flagship store on Calle Serrano, at number 25.

So far in 2017, the luxury thoroughfare in the capital has seen numerous changes of tenants. At the beginning of the year, the jewellery firm Carrera and Carrera launched a flagship store at number 27, measuring 150 m2.

In recent months, it has been joined on Calle Serrano by two other luxury firms: Salvatore Ferragamo, which took over from Lladró at number 68 and Kenzo, which chose number 17 to open its first establishment in Madrid.

Original story: Eje Prime (by I. P. Gestal and C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Record Breaking Logistics Leasing In Madrid In H1 2017

19 July 2017 – CBRE

400,000 m2 of logistics space was leased in Madrid during the first half of 2017, which represents an 117% increase in demand with respect to the same period a year earlier, according to data from CBRE, the largest real estate consultancy and services company in the world.

In fact, the total registered figure so far this year almost equals the amount for the whole of last year, when 404,000 m2 of logistics space was leased. Specifically, 269,000 m2 of logistics space was leased between April and June whereby doubling the figure recorded in the previous quarter (130,000 m2).

According to Alberto Larrazábal, National Director of Industrial and Logistics at CBRE, “this increase in leasing volumes is due, primarily, to the increase in the number of transactions involving large surface areas, which has been strengthened by a phenomenon that has increasingly more influence in society and which is revolutionising this sector in particularly: namely, e-commerce”.

Some of the most noteworthy operations closed during the first six months include DSV in Cabanillas del Campo, covering a total of 49,800 m2, the XPO in the same town, covering 47,934 m² and the deal closed in Getafe, covering a total surface area of 58,215 m2. The last few months have also seen Transaher close an operation in San Fernando de Henares, measuring 42,000 m², and Miquel Alimentació lease space in Torrejón de Ardoz, covering 20,372 m².

In this sense, the A-2 and A-4 motorways are where most of the space was leased during the first half of 2017 in the area surrounding the capital. Specifically, the A-2 accounted for 62% of the space leased (249,000 m2), followed by the A-4 (118,000 m2).

In terms of prime rent in the local distribution area, it remained stable at €5.25/m2/month.

In Barcelona, meanwhile, 112,000 m2 of logistics spaces was leased during the second quarter of 2017, 10% less than during the previous quarter (125,000 m2). In terms of the cumulative figure for the half year, it exceeded 237,000 m2, which was 40% lower than the volume recorded during the same period last year.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that a turnkey operation was closed by Amazon in El Prat de Llobregat in Q2 2016. Thus, if we exclude that operation from the comparison, 23% more logistics space was leased in H1 2017, which indicates a positive trend.

The most noteworthy operations closed in Barcelona during the first half of 2017 included the rental of a 34,000 m2 warehouse in Martorelles to Segro, the leasing of 17,000 m2 of space on the Anoia Industrial Estate to GV El Zamorano, and the pre-lease operation by the company VIBIA to Clape Group, involving a surface area of 14,000 m2 in Gavà. In addition, MediaPost signed a turnkey operation with Solvia to construct a 12,000 m2 warehouse in Polinyà (…).

Finally, the prime rent remained stable at €6.50/m2/month in Barcelona, although it is expected to increase over the next few months, due to the clear absence of available space.

Original story: CBRE

Translation: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Builds Rental Home Giant In Spain

18 May 2017 – Cinco Días

The fund Blackstone is the largest property owner in the world and has been backing real estate Spain for a while now. And, it is going to continue to do so in the short to medium term. For the time being, the fund’s plans involve becoming a giant in the rental housing segment and it is already starting to show its investment strategy through several companies, including three new Socimis.

Blackstone’s first major step was to create the servicer Anticipa Real Estate, under the structure of the former entity Cataluña Caixa Inmobiliaria. This asset management platform purchased 40,000 mortgages from the extinct Catalan entity for €4,123 million in 2015. Since then, it has continued acquiring these kinds of mortgage portfolios, to accumulate a total investment to date of almost €7,000 million.

The latest acquisitions made by Blackstone – which is headquartered in New York – have included a €400 million portfolio of loans backed by property developer collateral and another portfolio from BBVA comprising 3,500 properties, for around €300 million.

This entire portfolio of mortgage debt and properties is managed by Anticipa, a company that is led by its CEO, Eduard Mendiluce, a veteran director in the sector. (…).

The work that the servicer performs for Blackstone involves managing the loans granted by banks to individuals and property developers. In many cases, that task ends with the “dación en pago” or foreclosure of the property or development, due to non-payment. The company says that it treats each client on a case by case basis, and the process often means it has to accept a discount on the debt.

Of the portfolios acquired from banks, “daciones en pago” and foreclosures, Anticipa already owns 12,000 properties, which are leased out (in around 75% of cases) and put up for sale. “The idea is for it to become one of the large owners of rental housing in Spain”, explains a spokesperson.

The opportunistic fund – which purchases problem assets at a discount – is planning to remain in the Spanish market beyond the short term, and has absolutely no interest in selling its businesses within the next 5-7 years, but rather intends to benefit from the upwards trend in property.

To create the residential giant, the US firm has started to create vehicles to which it will transfer properties for rent. The first of these companies is Albirana Properties, a Socimi that started to trade on the Alternative Investment Market in March. That listed investment company, which benefits from certain tax advantages, already manages 5,000 homes.

But it is only the first to be listed. Other Socimis, namely Pegarena and Tourmalet, which have already been constituted and are already owned by several Blackstone funds, will follow. These firms, in turn, operate using Anticipa as their manager. (…).

Packaging up these homes into different companies will facilitate the sale of those companies in the future to various interested parties.

Blackstone decided to back the rental sector rather than the sales market at a time of change in the type of demand, according to experts in the sector. In particular, the generation of millennials, for cultural reasons – are more inclined to live without the tie of a mortgage – and, above all, the difficulties being faced by young people to obtain loans given the job insecurity.

Unlike other Socimis that specialise in rental housing, the management of assets by Albirana is more complex, given that its properties are relatively scattered geographically, as they proceed from individual mortgages. Typically these companies opt to manage entire buildings, but Blackstone’s company has specialised in what is known as granular management.

Currently, the majority of these properties are located in Cataluña. They are followed – at some distance – by homes in Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana and Andalucía.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake