Tag: marketing

Emerige Will Build 200 Homes In Spain In 2017

18 May 2017 – Observatorio Inmobiliario

The French real estate developer Emerige, which has been operating in Spain since 2013, is going to build 200 homes in Spain during 2017, according to a statement made by the company’s Deputy Director General, Yann Bloch.

At the same time, the head of the French real estate company announced the marketing of its latest development in Madrid, by Proel Consultoría, which will be officially unveiled at SIMA. It is a 105 home development – also containing one commercial unit – located on Calle General Yagüe 37, in the immediate vicinity of the Paseo de la Castellana business district. The development, which is under construction, will feature the high quality and design standards that characterise Emerige.

The French real estate company, founded in 1989 by Laurent Dumas, is one of the major property developers in Paris and the surrounding region. It specialises in the development of offices and homes, as well as in the restructuring of real estate assets. In 2017, it has more than 1,500 homes under construction and more than 200,000 m2 of tertiary space.

Emerige is characterised primarily by its special dedication to aesthetics and the design of its buildings, for which it collaborates with the best international architectural firms (David Chipperfield, RCR, Rafael de la Hoz, Factoría UDA, Antonio Ruiz Barbarín…). Another defining element is the firm’s attention to contemporary art, through patronage work, as well as by incorporating works of art into its projects. “We work in all segments of the market, but always with a special care and requirement for quality. We pay more attention to the quality of our operations than to the quantity”, said Yann Bloch.

This philosophy has been translated into projects that Emerige is constructing in Spain “where we are working only with Spanish collaborators, from the project manager to the architects, always with high levels of quality and demand”.

In theory, Emerige will limit its operations in Spain to central locations of Madrid and Barcelona. In this latest project, it began the journey with a project to renovate a 3,000 m2 property containing 29 homes, which has already been finished and sold in its entirety.

In Barcelona, the firm is currently marketing a project under construction, comprising the transformation of an office building into 24 apartments, located on Calle Montaner. In Madrid, it is currently working on the aforementioned project on Calle General Yaguë and is now at a very advanced stage on another 61-home property on Calle Garibay, 3, in conjunction with the firm Rafael de la Hoz, which it will start to market at the end of the year.

Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Completes €31.5M Capital Increase To Finance Growth

21 April 2017 – Eje Prime

Aedas Homes is facing a new phase of growth. The company, the successor of Vallehermoso, has just completed a capital increase amounting to €31.5 million, and it plans to use the funds to finance the construction of around 50 developments between now and 2018. The group, created by the fund Castlelake and advised by Merlin Properties, was created with the aim of building 12,000 homes on land that the firm has been acquiring since 2013, around 1.35 million m2.

According to the Mercantile Registry, the company Aedas Homes Group has completed a capital injection amounting to €31.4 million. This is the first capital injection received by the company, which until now had a share capital of €3,000. The firm specialises in residential developments in the medium-high end segment of the market.

The group constructs its own developments only and does not render any services to third parties. “We differentiate ourselves from our competitors because we build developments in areas with solvent and sustainable demand”, explains David Martínez (pictured above), CEO of the group. Currently, Aedas Homes has its focus placed on Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Valencia, Mallorca, Sevilla and Málaga, where it already has developments underway.

“80% of the land in our portfolio is buildable, whilst the rest is pending urbanisation”, adds Martínez. Moreover, we are constantly buying land, although now the volume that we have is sufficient to be able to carry out our plans in the short term”.

Last month, Aedas Homes, which competes directly with Neinor Homes, Aelca and Vía Célere, started to advertise its first fourteen developments; and the group plans to add another fifteen developments to its portfolio soon. “We would like to end this year having marketed around thirty developments, which is equivalent to 1,500 homes”, added sources at the group. (…).

The company is led by David Martínez, who has extensive experience in the real estate sector. After holding positions of responsibility at groups such as Ferrovial and Bovis Lend Lease in the 1990s, Martínez went on to lead projects such as Valdebebas and to serve as the CEO of Distrito Castellana Norte.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Iberdrola Markets A Large New Office Complex In Barcelona

24 January 2017 – El Economista

The real estate consultancy firms Aguirre Newman and CBRE will be responsible for marketing the largest complex of new offices currently under construction in Barcelona. Specifically, Torre Auditori and Torre Marina, two skyscrapers, owned by Iberdrola Inmobiliaria, which form part of the BCN Fira District complex. The energy firm plans to build another two towers on the site, taking the total surface area to more than 91,100 m2.

Both agents will work under a co-exclusivity agreement to market the most important offices in Barcelona, where 35,550 m2 of new office space is expected to come onto the market this year. Most of this space will become available in Torre Marina, which is in the final phase of construction and which is expected to be completed in April.

This skyscraper, with a gross leasable area (GLA) of 19,663m2, will be the smallest of the four, but will differentiate itself from the rest because it will have a retail and restaurant space on the lower floors, known as the Marina Atrium.

The property stands next to Torre Auditori, which has a GLA of 22,899 m2, spread over 21 floors, and which was the first property to come onto the market. This skyscraper already has several tenants including Asus, Proclinic, Dentsply, Marmedsa and Iberdolra itself – which has moved its central headquarters in Cataluña to this building – it offers open spaces of up to 1,200 m2 per floor, divisible into four modules.

“Barcelona has always been a strategic place for our activity and we are now demonstrating it by putting more than 42,000 m2 of efficient office space on the market”, said Miguel Ángel García Tamargo, Director of Real Estate at Iberdrola Inmobiliaria.

In this sense, the firm highlights that both towers have an “A” energy rating and a BREEAM certificate, and stand out thanks to their functionality, sustainability and energy saving, “characteristics, which make this a unique and sustainable business centre in Barcelona”.

BCN Fira District

In total, Iberdrola plans to construct four towers, three of which will have 21 floors; and each one will have an above ground gross leasable area of 22,899 m2. Moreover, the plans include more than 1,000 underground parking spaces, which have already been built.

Located in the new business district of Barcelona, the design of Iberdrola’s business complex is being led by the Barcelona-based architecture studio Tusquets, Díaz y Asociados, which previously collaborated with the company to complete two other buildings in the Catalan capital, namely, the Torres Diagonal Litoral and the Hilton Diagonal Mar Hotel.

The four towers are just one group of properties that comprise the BCN Fira District complex, which also includes the Fira de Barcelona and the office building that the real estate subsidiary of the insurance company Axa is going to construct for La Generalitat.

93,000 m2

Iberdrola Inmobiliaria already has a timeline for the construction of the other two towers that form part of these plans, which will be launched once the two properties that have just come onto the market have been leased. If everything goes according to plan, the new building work will begin in 2018. During that same year, 93,000 m2 of new office space is expected to come onto the market in Barcelona, of which 23% has already been leased.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Puts Its First 700 Finished Homes Up For Sale

7 October 2016 – Expansión

Sareb has put the first 700 homes on the market that it has now completed after it acquired unfinished properties from various nationalised banking institutions when it was created.

According to a statement published yesterday by the entity, 34 developments are being sold in total, containing 700 homes, whose prices will range from €32,000 for the cheapest to €390,000 for the most expensive.

The homes finished by Sareb are located in nine autonomous regions: Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Comunidad Valenciana, Galicia, La Rioja and La Comunidad de Madrid.

These properties, together with another 1,300 newly built homes, form part of the “Casas de Estreno” campaign launched by Sareb, which explained that the managers that support the company (Altamira Asset Management, Haya Real Estate, Servihabitat and Solvia) will be responsible for marketing all of these assets.

Strategy

Information about the homes can be found on the website www.sarebcasasdeestreno.es. It contains the basic details of each home along with photos.

“The completion of the unfinished construction work, in places where there is demand, forms part of Sareb’s strategy to maximise the value of the assets it received and fulfil its divestment mandate in the most efficient way” said the Director of Direct Management at Sareb, Juan Dios.

The region with the most homes for sale in this new portfolio is Cataluña, which accounts for almost 200 homes. The majority, 114, are located in Barcelona. There are also lots of flats for sale in the Community of Valencia, where Sareb has completed seven developments containing 170 homes, of which 108 are located in the province of Valencia.

In Asturias, the company has completed a development containing 112 homes and in Castilla y León, it will put almost 100 homes up for sale in the province of Cuidad Real.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spanish Hoteliers See No ST Threat From Brexit

3 August 2016 – Hotel News Now

Spanish hoteliers said they have yet to see any immediate negative impact on tourism from the U.K. since that country voted to leave the European Union.

“Spain has long been, and should remain for the foreseeable future, the favored vacation destination for British visitors despite Brexit, and all indications are that bookings well into next year are still healthy,” said Juan Molas, President of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT), during a 28 July news conference.

The U.K. is Spain’s largest source market for foreign visitors. Last year, 68 million foreign visitors traveled to Spain, which was an increase of 5% over the previous year. Approximately 16 million Britons accounted for 21% of those visitors.

Following the victory for the “leave” vote in the 23 June Brexit referendum and the resulting drop in the value of the pound against the euro, there was concern in the Spanish hotel sector that the subsequent higher prices would keep Britons away.

But hoteliers noted that British travelers traditionally reserve their holidays months in advance, so there appears to be no immediate negative impact on peak business this summer.

Molas said that momentum should extend into the 2016-2017 winter season and next summer. He added that Spain’s tour operators and travel agencies that sell package vacations—which are used by 70% of British tourists when booking their Spanish holidays—have noticed steady booking trends well into 2017.

“Spain continues to be the most popular vacation spot for the British, who don’t tend to travel for leisure to some of our competitors like Egypt or Turkey, which are more popular among the Germans and French,” he said. “Spanish hotels and destinations offer the British what they want on a holiday: safety and good value for money. We’ve seen the pound-euro exchange rate fluctuate often in the past, and there was no lasting major effect on us.”

But Molas cautioned the weaker pound could curtail daily spending by British visitors in Spain and London will now be a cheaper alternative for event booking than Spanish cities.

“London is our biggest competitor in Europe for the convention trade, and Paris, where hotel prices have fallen because of the recent unfortunate events in France, is also a rival,” he said. “But our biggest competitor in all of this would be for the British to decide not to travel and just stay home.”

Long-term effects of Brexit are still unknown, said CEHAT Secretary General Ramón Estalella.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to see into the future, but there are three important unknowns to consider,” he said. “One is when Britain will finally leave the EU and what further effects that might have. Two, no one knows where the pound will be in value (in) six months or there could be a crisis in Europe dragging down the value of the euro and so making the pound stronger. And three, what might happen in our competitor countries that could affect the British source market.”

The CEHAT executives also presented the findings of a survey of its members—which include 54 local and regional hotel associations and 1.5 million beds—on the sector’s performance through the end of the summer. A majority of the respondents are looking forward to a positive high season thanks largely to a rise in room rates and longer average stays by guests, which will result in higher profits.

Molas said hoteliers are confident that the continuing demand from both Spanish and foreign guests will increase.

“What’s important now is to use the occupancy rates to maximize earnings and promote Spain through advertising and marketing so we can cement its position as one of the leading tourism destinations in the world,” Molas said.

Original story: Hotel News Now (by Benjamin Jones)

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Sareb Puts 1,300 RE Assets In Madrid & Barcelona Up For Sale

21 June 2016 – Expansión

Sareb has launched a commercial campaign to sell a selection of more than 1,300 assets in the metropolitan areas of Madrid and Barcelona. The majority of the properties are new and second-hand homes and they are being marketed under an initiative that goes by the name “MAD-BCN/BCN-MAD”, which will run for three months.

Potential buyers can access the full list of properties through a dedicated website that allows users to search by location, as well as access detailed information and request more data by email or telephone. It is also possible to buy a property through the website, and to make direct contact with the marketing platform to execute an operation. The four platforms that support Sareb (Altamira Asset Management, Haya Real Estate, Servihabitat and Solvia) are responsible for marketing these properties.

The assets included in the campaign comprise a “very competitive” portfolio, thanks both to their prices and their location, according to the so-called bad bank

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bank Revenues From Asset Sales Exceeded €10,000M In 2015

29 February 2016 – Expansión

Last year, Spain’s listed banks recorded revenues of €10,118 million from the sale of assets from their property portfolios. Popular recognised the highest volume of sales with €2,109 million, followed by Santander (€2,070 million) and BBVA (€2,000 million). These three banks accounted for 61% of such revenues. The remaining 39% was spread between Sabadell with €1,902 million, CaixaBank with €1,312 million, Bankia with €465 million and Bankinter with €260 million.

And these entities expect to increase their sales in 2016. (…).

House sales in Spain increased by 11.1% in 2015, thanks to the growth spurt in the second hand market, to reach 354,132 operations, the highest figure since 2011, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Popular stepped on the accelerator during the year, with a 40.3% increase in these revenues, which meant that it exceeded its forecast sales for the year of €2,000 million, by €109 million. If all goes according to plan, then the bank will close this year with sales of €2,800 million, whereby increasing its volume of these operations by another 33%.

Subsidiaries

Popular groups these types of assets into its real estate arm Aliseda, which it controls 100%. Aliseda Servicios de Gestión Inmobiliaria, in which Popular holds a 49% stake and Värde Partners and Kennedy Wilson control the remaining 51% stake, is responsible for marketing these assets, which current amount to 31,000 units.

Last year, Santander sold 11,423 properties in total, for €2,070 million, according to the entity. The sale of foreclosed assets amounted to €898 million, with a corresponding gross value of €1,375 million. The bank led by Ana Botín controls 100% of Altamira Santander Real Estate, which holds all of its real estate assets. Apollo is responsible for marketing the assets through Altamira Asset Management after Santander sold that entity to the US fund.

By contrast, BBVA retains control over 100% of its distribution process through its subsidiary Anida. The bank recorded revenues of €2,000 million last year from the sale of 21,082 real estate assets. The entity says that these operations were particularly important during the final quarter of 2015, as their returns improved.

CaixaBank recognised €1,312 million from the sale of some of its properties (€1,380 million in 2014) and €765 million from rental income (€1,132 million in 2014). The improvement in the real estate market meant that these transactions mainly took place during the final quarter of the year, with a gain of 2%, although the final balance for the year generated a loss of almost 6%. (…).

Sabadell sold 10,949 properties for €1,902 million, representing an increase of 16% during the year, thanks to the increased interest from investors in the Spanish real estate market, which allowed the entity to reduce its exposure to problem assets more quickly than forecast in its Triple plan.

In this context, the discounts on the gross value of foreclosed assets have been lower, down from 51% in 2014 to 44% last year, said the entity. Sabadell has started 2016 with a boost in this segment, thanks to the sale of 4,500 homes to the fund Blackstone. (…).

Bankia generated revenues of €465 million from these sales, up by 56% compared with 2014. (…). The entity…channels its sales through Haya Real, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cerberus.

Finally, Bankinter sold 2,496 properties, up by 61% compared with 2014, but turnover from those sales fell by 5.3% to €260 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Elisa del Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Work Begins At Pryconsa’s Luxury Housing Development In Madrid

14 December 2015 – El Mundo

The details of one of the most iconic, exclusive and eagerly-awaited residential projects in Madrid have finally been revealed: the development that Pryconsa is undertaking on the 15,000 m2 plot of land that previously housed RTVE’s Buñuel Studios and which the Madrilenian based property developer acquired in November last year for €35.27 million.

It is a prime location, at number 5 on Avenida de Burgos, next to Paseo de la Habana, the best area in the district of Chamartín, surrounded by parks and gardens and just a stone’s throw away from hot spots such as the Chamartín train station, Plaza de Castilla and the Cuatro Torres.

In tribute to the great Aragonese filmmaker, who has lent his name to the studios for decades, the project has been named, in part, after his home town: Calanda Homes. The property development will contain 89 three- to five-bedroom homes, and will measure between 163 m2 and 218 m2. It will include different types of properties, such as flats (all with large terraces), ground floor flats with gardens and penthouse apartments with terraces of between 117 m2 and 165 m2. The homes will be distributed across two four-storey buildings, 35 m apart and located within a huge urbanisation containing gardens, a (Munich style) swimming pool, padel court and gym, amongst other features.

The project will be developed in two phases. During the first phase, the marketing of which has just begun, prices will start at €808,000 and go up to €1.8 million. Work to demolish the old television studios began last Wednesday, and if construction proceeds according to plan, then the property developer will hand over the keys to the homes in the first phase in June 2018.

Sales success

“During the first few days, almost 50% of the first phase that we are currently marketing has been reserved”, said José León, CEO of the company. (…).

Original story: El Mundo (by Luis M. De Ciria)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Caixabank Begins To Market Office Space In Torre Pelli

20 February 2015 – El Economista

Servihabitat, the credit and property management company owned by Caixabank, has started to market 35,000 square metres of office space in the building known as Torre Pelli (178m high), on the island of Cartuja in Sevilla. The tower is in its final stages of construction by the (development) company Puerto Triana, in which Caixabank is a majority shareholder.

Sources close to Servihabitat have confirmed that this week the company has started to market office spaces on floors 1 to 24; initially, a hotel was planned for floors 24 and above, although that is now pending confirmation.

The sources indicated that 1,500 square metres of office space is available per floor, with a minimum space of 200 square metres. In total, 35,000 square metres of office space has come onto the market.

In terms of the rental prices for these spaces, the sources indicated that “prices vary depending on the volume of square metres (contracted), the floor, the direction/orientation” and they note that prices “are being agreed on a personalised basis”.

Nevertheless, “El Correo de Andalucía” reported on Thursday that it will cost €3000/m2/month plus shared costs to rent a 200 square metre space, and so Caixabank may generate revenues of almost half a million euros per month if it manages to rent out the whole building.

The sources stressed that this marketing campaign “is attracting interest and has been very well received by its potential clients”.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake