Valencia Transfers 8 Plots to Cooperatives for the Construction of 118 Social Housing Units

2 February 2019 – Valencia Plaza

On Friday at a meeting of the Local Government, the Property Department of the Town Hall of Valencia, led by María Oliver, approved the transfer of eight plots of land to cooperatives for the purpose of constructing 118 social housing units in several of the city’s neighbourhoods, in particular in the Nou Moles and Massarrojos areas, with 46 and 20 homes, respectively. The formula chosen by the Town Hall transfers the land for a period of between 50 and 75 years.

The councillor for Housing and Property, María Oliver, said that the objective is “to limit the capacity for speculation”. And in that same sense, she insisted that “people will no be allowed to be removed from their neighbourhoods” (…).

All of the publicly protected housing, known by their initials VPP (‘viviendas de protección pública’) will be distributed between the districts of l’Olivereta, Poblats Marítims, Quatre Carreres and los Pobles del Nord, Sud and Oest, and will comprise exactly 118 homes, according to the calculations performed by the Housing Department (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza 

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Province of Málaga is Surfing the Crest of the Residential Investment Wave

16 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Málaga is no longer all about the Costa del Sol when it comes to the housing market. The provincial capital has emerged as a benchmark in the province, becoming a new magnet for primary residences, in partnership with the Costa del Sol, where demand for holiday and beach homes has been reactivated. The Mediterranean Real Estate Fair (Simed), which is opening today in Málaga, is a good pulse meter for that growth. In total, more than 160 real estate companies are going to market more than 22,000 homes during the course of the weekend at Málaga’s Palace of Conferences and Fairs (‘Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga’ or Fycma).

The increase in the number of exhibitors in the room, which are going to occupy 9,000 m2 of surface area, is a reflection of the current climate in Málaga in this new real estate cycle. The 70% increase in space leased by real estate firms since the last edition goes hand in hand with the rise of more than 10% in house prices in the Malagan residential market.

Some data, such as that from the proptech firm Urban Data Analytics, indicate an increase of 19.4% in house prices in Málaga during the first quarter of the year, whilst the Ministry of Development reported that the rise amounted to 10.8%. The public ministry estimated that the price per square metre in the capital amounted to more than €1,500/m2, a value that has not depreciated in the subsequent months.

According to the real estate consultancy Savills Aguirre Newman, which has just opened a regional office on the iconic Calle Marqués de Larios, Málaga is growing from its epicentre. The provincial capital saw its supply of residential new build properties rise by 23.8% in 2017, with more than 4,000 homes planned, and that has repositioned it as the main city in the south of Spain for real estate, surpassing even Sevilla.

The new developments that are being constructed and the high demand in the city, which is undergoing a “metamorphosis”, are going to allow the province of Málaga to exceed the 19,464 homes sold in 2007, its best performance to date, according to the report by Savills Aguirre Newman. Nowadays, property developers and funds who want to acquire land are investing in the capital in light of the demand that exists. “That did not happen before, the residential motor was almost always focused 90% on the Costa del Sol”, says the director of the consultancy firm in Málaga, José Félix Pérez-Peña, in the same report.

The prime area of the capital is its central zone. There, the most expensive square metres are for multi-family homes, which amount to €3,000/m2, whilst in the East of Málaga, the reference area for local buyers, the price of single-family homes amounts to around €2,600/m2.

The large property developers are investing heavily in Málaga

None of the major property developers want to miss out on the opportunity that investing in Málaga represents. Neinor Homes, Aedas Homes and Metrovacesa, amongst others, have projects underway in the area and their intention is to establish themselves with more investments.

Aedas has landed in the capital with 87 homes in Teatinos, the fashionable neighbourhood in the Málagan residential sector, which has great potential for growth. Meanwhile, Metrovacesa has put four projects on the Costa del Sol up for sale and has announced an investment of €175 million in a 250-home development in Torre del Río.

Meanwhile, Neinor Homes is planning 1,500 homes in a dozen developments, comprising both primary residences and second homes in Málaga Capital as well as in several towns along the Costa del Sol, including Estepona, Marbella and Benahavís, amongst others.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Anticipa: House Prices in Madrid & Barcelona Return to their Peaks of the Real Estate Boom

11 November 2018 – El Confidencial

The (real estate) recovery is really heating up. House prices in Madrid are on the verge of returning to their peaks of 2007. What seemed impossible, is now becoming a reality. That is according to a report from Anticipa Real Estate, which forecasts two-digit increases in house prices in the Spanish capital this year and next. Specifically, it predicts that homes will become more expensive by 10.2% in 2018 and by 11.5% in 2019, rises that are twice as high as the percentages that experts consider to be sustainable.

House prices have already been growing at rates of 10% during the last two quarters, according to the Repeated Sales House Price Index, prepared in accordance with the Case & Shiller methodology from the United States applied to Spain, which analyses repeat sales of the same homes. In other words, they are rising at double-digit percentages reminiscent of those recorded at the height of the real estate boom a decade ago.

Despite that, both property developers and banks are insisting that the market is very different to the one seen more than ten years ago and they categorically rule out that we are facing a similar situation to then. On the one hand, access to financing remains very restricted for solvent clients, whilst the recovery in prices is very uneven across the country. Whilst in the cities (and in certain neighbourhoods), prices are skyrocketing, in others, prices are still decreasing.

Although on average, by the end of 2019, house prices in Spain will be 15% below the peaks recorded in 2007, according to the report from Anticipa Real Estate, there are some hot spot areas where those prices have already been exceeded. In Cataluña, another of the hot spots in the Spanish market, increases of around 9% are expected next year and that despite the delicate political situation in Cataluña, which has had a direct negative impact on the real estate market – in Barcelona -, which, until a year ago, was performing extremely well in terms of transactions and prices.

Madrid stands out from the rest of Spain, with an evolution in terms of residential prices that has caused the first alarm bells to start sounding. In certain neighbourhoods, such as Chamartín, Chamberí and Salamanca, second-hand homes now cost the same as they did ten or twelve years ago, whilst in others such as Arganzuela, Centro, Moncloa and Tetúan, prices are close to exceeding those levels. In others, where prices are still well below their peaks of the bubble, the market is rising at rates of 20%, rapidly reducing the gap with respect to 2008.

They are peripheral areas of the city towards which price rises are moving like an oil slick. And that is because prices, both to the purchase and rental markets in the centre of the city have reached such prohibitive levels that much of the demand is moving en masse to more affordable areas, resulting in significant upward pressure on prices.

According to the latest data from Tinsa, in Vicálvaro, Ciudad Lineal and Villaverde, house prices have risen by more than 20% in the last year, compared with rises of 8.5% in Chamartín and 13% in the district of Salamanca. Meanwhile, the municipalities of Barcelona, such as L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Castelldefels, Esplugues de Llobregat and Sabadell, are experiencing a similar phenonemon with increases of more than 15% (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tinsa: House Prices Rose by 15.6% YoY in Madrid in Q3

9 October 2018 – ABC

Whilst most Spanish provincial capitals have reached what the experts define as “a turning point” with the stabilisation of house prices, Madrid is still the most dynamic city in the whole country. It is leading the house price rises once again with increases of 15.6% in Q3 with respect to the third quarter of last year. That rise in value reflects the tensions that demand for homes in the Spanish capital is exerting on certain areas. The scarce supply of new build homes is not helping to balance a panorama where the pressure on house prices is now moving towards the peripheral neighbourhoods. Some areas are recording price increases of more than 20%, well above those seen even in the traditionally most sought-after districts. All of the districts, without exception, have seen an increase in their price per square metre. Of the 21, only three saw price rises in the single-digits – Usera, Chamartín and Villa de Vallecas-. In this context, the average price in the Spanish capital now amounts to €2,876/m2.

That is according to the latest local market report on finished housing – new and second hand – published by the appraisal company Tinsa at the end of the third quarter. In it, Madrid ranks as the third most expensive provincial capital to buy a home after Barcelona (€3,383/m2) and San Sebastián (€3,151/m2), both with more discrete YoY growth rates. Despite the warning that the consecutive increases generate, a priori, the capital is still a long way from the maximums that it reached in the third quarter of 2007 (27.6% lower), which marked the start of the crisis. The real estate situation has changed little since the middle of the year, although the trends that some experts, such as Pedro Soria, Commercial Director at Tinsa, were indicating in June have been confirmed: high prices in the city centre are pushing buyers to focus outside of the M-30.

The furore to purchase properties is still defined by a striking fact: it only takes 2.6 months to sell a property in Madrid at the moment. That period is still the lowest in Spain, even though it increased by one tenth with respect to the second quarter. Even with property developer activity below what the sector considers healthy for the real estate sector, demand for second-hand products is extremely high. And it is not exactly a favourable scenario for buyers. One piece of evidence that a major problem is starting to emerge in terms of access to housing in the capital is in the financial effort that families are having to make to live in Madrid. This has exceeded what is considered to be the “sustainable” limit. Those that have purchased a home in the last quarter are having to spend 26.1% of their gross household income (before taxes and other deductions) to service the first year of their mortgages. The national average stands at 17.2%. The experts consider that the red line, which has always recommended spending no more than one quarter of a household’s income on the mortgage, is now being passed. In districts such as Arganzuela, which has become one of the most attractive areas of the capital, household’s financial efforts now amount to 27.6% and the figure reaches 41.5% in the case of Salamanca neighbourhood. Once again, house prices in that area are the most expensive in Spain, at €4,762/m2. Chamberi is ranked in third place, after the Barcelona neighbourhood of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, with €4,521/m2 (…).

The most expensive municipalities

The municipalities that generate the most interest include Pozuelo de Alarcón, which registers the highest price of €3,017/m2, followed by Alcobendas, at €2,847/m2 and Majadahonda, at €2,537/m2. By contrast, the municipalities of Arroyomolinos and Aranjuez registered the lowest prices: €1,337/m2 and €1,446/m2, respectively, of those analysed by the appraisal company (…).

Original story: ABC (by Adrián Delgado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Airbnb Unveils New Tool to Help Town Hall of Barcelona Crack Down on Illegal Operators

28 May 2018 – Eje Prime

A new approach in the collaboration between Airbnb and the Town Hall of Barcelona. The US company has announced the launch of a new technological tool that will provide the City Council with access to data about its hosts, such as their full name, DNI and address.

That will allow the authorities to identify those flats that do not comply with local regulations. Currently, the Town Hall is reviewing a list of potential illegal operators, as part of a procedure established by the law agreed between it and Airbnb.

Through this new tool, Airbnb’s hosts will indicate whether their accommodation should be registered by law or not, and they will give their consent for some of their personal data to be shared with the Town Hall of Barcelona. This measure, which will facilitate the work of the City Hall to eliminate potential illegal operators, will enter into force on Friday 1 June.

“By working together, Airbnb and the Town Hall of Barcelona can help more local families to share their homes, comply with the law and generate new sources of income to strengthen our neighbourhoods”, said Arnaldo Muñoz, Director General of Airbnb in Spain, in a statement.

Since last summer, collaboration between the US group and the Town Hall has resulted in the withdrawal of more than 2,500 adverts and the introduction of a limit of one advert per host for apartments located in Ciutat Vella.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Mif Capital Expands its RE Business with 3 New Projects in Barcelona

14 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The property developer founded by Carles Maurí and Gregorio Ferrer Cervera will begin three new projects this year in the districts of Eixample and Sarrià. During its five year life, the real estate company has generated revenues of €20 million with developments completed exclusively in the Catalan capital.

Mif Capital will fulfil its annual objective in 2018: to start between two and three residential projects in Barcelona. The real estate company, founded in 2013 by Carles Maurí and Gregorio Ferrer, will start work on the renovation of a residential building in the Eixample district after the summer, and will also launch “two more projects at the end of the year”, both located in the Catalan capital, according to Maurí speaking to Eje Prime.

The executive, who has two decades of experience in major real estate companies, and his partner, together lead this property developer, which is finalising the handover of its latest project, in the heart of the Gràcia neighbourhood. The six renovated homes will be added to the two apartments that the company finished refurbishing recently on Avenida Diagonal. All of them are located in Barcelona because “we are based here, we like the city and we believe that it is a good location in which to develop real estate”, says the businessman.

Mif Capital’s new projects will adopt the same style as the five developments undertaken to date and will involve the renovation and sale of properties in prime locations. “In some cases, the homes are destined for rent and in others for sale”, explains Maurí, who has built up the company from nothing alongside Ferrer, and who says that “Between the two of us we take care of all the acquisitions and management of the assets” (…).

 “We want to grow organically” 

“We purchase buildings in which we would like to live”, responds Maurí to a question about what type of properties that most interest both him and his partner. In this sense, most of Mif Capital’s projects go up for sale, although the real estate company has also constructed some homes for rent. “Nevertheless, we are not interested in, nor do we own any tourist apartments”, says the businessman.

The founding partner of the real estate company knows the Barcelona real estate market well. He began his career in 1998 on the Diagonal Mar shopping centre project, when he was the Director of Business for Hines for five years. Subsequently, Maurí worked for Copcisa, the construction group owned by the Carbonell family, and then for Layetana Inmobiliaria, which built the iconic Torre Glòries, now owned by Merlin.

That experience led the co-founder of Mif Capital to Servihabitat, the servicer of La Caixa. After three years as the National Director of the bank’s real estate arm, during a time of deep recession in the sector, he decided to set up a new company with Ferrer (…).

The first asset that entered the property developer’s portfolio was a building located at number 42 Rambla Catalunya (…).

After two “very good” years, the objective of the real estate company for the next few years is “to continue with the same business plan”, with the aim of “continuing to grow organically”. With a clear focus on the city of Barcelona.

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Grosvenor Will Invest €200M to Double its Portfolio in Spain by 2022

25 April 2018 – Eje Prime

The British group Grosvenor is taking advantage of the strong performance of the real estate sector in Spain. The company, which has just presented its financial results for 2017, revealing a record profit of GBP 143.5 million (€163.8 million), has revised its plans for Spain. It is now going to spend more than €200 million on purchases, together with the Malaysian group Amprop, with which it owns a joint venture in the country. The group aims to double its portfolio of assets between now and 2022, according to James Raynor (pictured below), CEO of Grosvenor, speaking to Eje Prime.

“In 2017, we increased our potential in the residential sector, specifically in Madrid, where we undertook six acquisitions for development”, explained Raynor. “Our intention is to transform under-utilised assets into properties that contribute to the growth and dynamisation of the neighbourhoods in which they are located, and we have faith that our first projects in the districts of Salamanca and Chamberí will do just that”, he added.

Grosvenor’s most ambitious plans in Spain include its new purchases. The group, which now employs eight people in the country after it opened an office in Madrid, has increased its investment capacity to €200 million through its joint venture together with Amprop, created last year to build luxury homes in Madrid. “We will also evaluate investments outside of the joint venture”, added the director.

The alliance with Amprop set itself the objective of backing value-added investments, where it assumes high risks but also assigns them high profitability. For these types of projects, the two groups have allocated a budget of €70 million, although they have reviewed the numbers thanks to the “opportunities being offered by the Spanish market”, explained the executive.

Grosvenor evaluates its last year in Spain as “a good year”. (…). “Having expanded our team, we have more power to unlock opportunities that would have been impossible without the experience of professionals in the sector. We have also been making progress with projects such as the one we have underway at number 53 Jorge Juan”, explained Raynor.

Over the coming months, the British group is going to continue “to look for investment opportunities in the main neighbourhoods of Madrid”. “We think that this is the perfect time to invest in residential developments in Spain and in repositioning opportunities, although we are also open to the acquisition of mixed-use assets, as well as retail properties and offices”, says Raynor -; “As an investment company, we have a diverse portfolio and extensive experience in all of the real estate sectors, and so we will take advantage of that know-how to find the most appropriate opportunities to suit us (…).

The fund has been led in the Spanish market by Fátima Sáez del Cano since 2007, although its operations in the country date back to 1996. The director leads the fund specialising in the office and commercial sectors, which is also responsible for the management of the funds and assets. Some of the properties under Grosvenor’s management in Spain include the Islazul shopping centre in Madrid and the Anecblau complex in Barcelona (…).

In addition, in recent months, Grosvenor decided to add new blood to its management team by hiring more directors. In September, the group recruited Javier García as the new Technical Director for the Spanish market. The director is responsible for the technical management of operations in Spain, from the control of the design to the monitoring of project costs and deadlines (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia is Awarded 200,000 m2 of Land by the Port for Conversion into Green Space

26 February 2018 – Inmodiario

The mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, and the President of the Port Authority, Aurelio Martínez, have jointly presented an agreement for the use by citizens of 195,000 m2 of Port Authority land in the neighbourhood of Natzaret. The site will contain a park (el Parque de Desembocadura) measuring 63,800 m2, a large sports area spanning 88,000 m2, a tertiary use area and the concession of land to allow the Jardín de Túria to be extended to reach the sea.

“Construction work on the future ‘Parque de Desembocadura’ will start soon. Until now, it has been all about the paperwork and negotiations, but people are going to be able to start strolling through here very soon. It is a very important step for the neighbourhood of Natzaret and for the city as a whole, and very important for the redirection of the seafront, which is the main large project that remains outstanding in terms of town planning in Valencia (…)”, said Joan Ribó, after the approval of the agreement by the Board of the Port Authority (…).

The immediate work that the mayor refers to will begin on a plot measuring 22,000 m2, which citizens will be able to enjoy as soon as possible. The granting of the total space spanning 195,000 m2 in the Natzaret area is going to be the city’s third green space, of which the Parque de Desembocadura will occupy 63,802 m2.

At the same time, the plan is to create a sports area, spanning 88,000 m2. “It is going to be an area between the Natzaret and Puerto neighbourhoods, which I think is really important; it is going to have a lot of positive consequences for boosting the neighbourhood and also for mobility and connections between the neighbourhoods and the city (…)”, said Ribó (…).

The agreement also provides for the creation of a tertiary area (located on part of the site of the former Moyresa factory) which will have a surface area of 19,500 m2 and a buildable surface area of 25,000 m2 (…).

Meanwhile, Aurelio Martínz, President of the Port Authority, expressed his satisfaction “about this agreement, which has required lots of months of work and effort to achieve and to which the mutual understanding that exists with the mayor of Valencia has contributed” (…).

He added that it is a former port space, “which is being made available to the Town Hall and to its citizens” and also that “the fence is going to be maintained for reasons of security just like in other parks that are open for use by citizens during the day”.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Valencia Is Running Out of Urban Land

28 February 2018 – El Confidencial

Valencia is running out of urban land that’s ready to develop. The municipal area is running out of batches of “finalist” land after several years of paralysis in the development of new urban planning spaces. The recovery in demand and the credit granted to the sector over the last year have attracted investors and property developers interested in positioning themselves in an urban market. And that of the third capital city of Spain is proving appealing, since prices there are still well below the saturation point that they are experiencing in Barcelona and, above all, in Madrid. Many of the local real estate businessmen from the boom era have filed for liquidation, and so now it is listed property companies, managers backed by large international and domestic funds and new industrial firms with surplus cash, that have taken over the batten to launch new residential projects.

In total, the city has 60 new build projects in process and being marketed, and the forecast is for another 15-20 developments to come onto the market during the course of the year, according to a sector report compiled by the consultancy firm CBRE, which was presented by the Director of the office in Valencia, José Ángel Sospedra, and the Director of New Build properties in Spain, Carlos de Almeida. Interest from property developers has been concentrated in the few neighbourhoods in which there is “finalist” land to be completed: Patraix, Nou Campanar, Malilla Norte and Quatre Carreres. They are areas that were processed during the real estate boom whose development was cut short by the economic crisis and whose plots ended up in the hands of the banks, for the most part, which, in turn, have been placing them with third parties and which have now ended up in the hands of companies such as Neinor, Aedas, Aelca and Q21.

Almost all of the plots are being processed, which is why CBRE expects that within three to five years, the buildable plots for new build properties will have run out. “Due to the current scarcity of available urban land in the city of Valencia, house prices are expected to increase in the medium term. During 2018, demand will focus on developments located inside the city where land is still available, such as Benicalap, Patraix and Moreres. And for the first time since 2008, we will see interest return to the city’s natural areas of expansion and its metropolitan areas, given that the stock of urban land in the city of Valencia will run out within the next 3 or 4 years”, said the bulletin.

Last year alone, the number of transactions increased by 26%, with more than 8,000 homes sold. That figure will grow over the next two years because that is when the new build flats and houses that property developers started to market and promote last year are going to be notarised (…).

The consequence of this phenomenon, in addition to greater interest in areas that are further away from the old town, in settlements in the metropolitan area, is that property developers are starting to become interested in non-finalist areas pending development, such as the PAI del Grao (…) and the undeveloped plots of Fuente de San Luis, close to the new Hospital La Fe (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Víctor Romero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Fotocasa: Rental Prices Rose by 8.9% in 2017

15 January 2018 – Eje Prime

House prices are continuing to soar in both the purchase and rental markets. According to the latest report compiled by Fotocasa, rental prices rose by 8.9% on average last year, which represents the highest rise in the historical series, prepared since 2007.

Eleven years ago, this market recorded an increase in rental prices of 3.3%, according to the real estate platform. With the latest increase, rental prices have now registered three consecutive years of rises, although not all of the autonomous regions evolved in the same way.

Until the end of 2017, the only autonomous region to record rental price rises of more than 10% was Cataluña, whereas a year before, Madrid and the Balearic Islands also formed part of that group, according to Cinco Días.

The study, which also analyses the districts of Madrid and Barcelona, shows that in 2017, neighbourhoods such as Ciutat Vella and l’Eixample, in Barcelona, and Centro in Madrid, closed the year with decreases.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake