Tag: new build homes

Solvia Doubles Its Profits & Builds 2,800 Homes

7 April 2017 – Expansión 

Solvia is establishing a name for itself as a profitable division for Banco Sabadell. The real estate arm is no longer just an instrument for evacuating assets awarded to the entity during the crisis, but rather it has become a profit-generating subsidiary and one that generates additional business for the bank’s branch network.

Moreover, the group is establishing itself as one of the main real estate companies in Spain covering the full cycle, given that it not only brokers the sale and purchase of properties, it also operates as one of the largest developers of new build properties, with a current stock under construction of 2,800 homes.

According to company sources, Solvia closed 2016 with a profit before tax (PBT) of €57.8 million, which represents a 2.4-fold increase on its earnings the previous year (€24 million).

The turnover of the company led by Javier García del Río for services rendered in 2016 grew by 31% to €157.5 million. This increase was even higher than the growth in the volume of brokered sales, which amounted to €1,995 million, up by 20.4%.

This rise was driven by an increase in marketing activities and the fact that 2016 was the first year in which the portfolios managed on behalf of Sareb were reflected in Solvia’s results their entirety. The bad bank is Solvia’s main client, alongside Banco Sabadell, although the company also works with several funds and family offices.

Moreover, last year, it diversified its activity by starting to sell homes to individuals through the launch of a chain of real estate offices on the high street. Solvia already has fifteen agencies – four of which are franchised – in Alicante, Sevilla, Torrevieja, Marbella, Murcia, San Pedro de Pinatar, El Campello, Fuengirola, Valencia, L’Hospitalet, Badalona, Oviedo, Getafe, Leganés and Castellón. Its objective is to extend the network right across Spain over the next few years.

Property developments

In total – excluding rental homes – Solvia sold 20,321 properties in 2016, up by 25.8%. It is worth noting that 29% of the sales corresponded to assets other than finished homes, compared to 9% in 2015. Since 2011, Solvia has brokered the sale of 91,000 properties in Spain.

The company now manages 148,000 units, with a value of more than €31,000 million. Of that figure, €4,300 million relates to financial assets under management and €1,200 million relates to land under development. The assets it manages on behalf of Sareb came from Banco Ceiss and Bankia.

The 2,800 new build homes that Solvia is now constructing on land owned by Banco Sabadell and Sareb are located in 79 developments across Spain – in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Córdoba, Sevilla, Gijón and Pamplona.

Original story: Expansión (by Sergi Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: House Sales Rose By 14% In 2016 To 403,866

13 February 2017 – Expansión

On Friday, official data from Spain’s National Institute for Statistics (INE) certified that 2016 was the year of recovery in the housing sector. In total, 403,866 homes were sold, up by 13.6% compared with 2015. It was the third consecutive year of growth following an increase of 11.5% in 2015 and 2.2% in 2014, and it was the first time since 2010 that the property market exceeded the psychological barrier of 400,000 operations. The cumulative increase in the number of house sales since the last year of the recession in the real estate sector now exceeds 30%.

18.7% of the homes sold and purchased in 2016 were new and 81.3% were second-hand. The number of operations involving new homes decreased by 1.7%, whilst the number involving second-hand home sales rose by 17.8%, with respect to 2015.

At this point, it is worth noting that the INE considers all homes aged over five years old as “second-hand” homes, even if no-one has ever lived in them, something which happens a lot with the stock held by the banks.

“Our expectations were fulfilled during the year, despite the turmoil created by the political uncertainty and other problems, which could have easily delayed the recovery. People buying and selling homes to reposition themselves on the property ladder have driven the boom”, said the Director of Research at Pisos.com, Manuel Gandarias.

More new builds in 2017

In any case, the hegemony of the second-hand market is a trend that may start to reverse this year: “During 2017, we will see new build homes gaining momentum and growing at a faster rate”, said Gandarias.

“House sales will continue growing at a good pace, but new builds will give us more positive data and if financing is maintained at its current levels, increasingly more people will be able to access mortgages”, said Beatriz Toribio, Head of Research at Fotocasa.

The number of house sales grew in every autonomous region in 2016. The highest increases were recorded in the Balearic Islands (31%), Cataluña (20%), Extremadura (18.6%), Asturias (16%), Aragón (14.7%) and Cantabria (13.7%). The Community of Madrid registered an annual increase of 12.2%. Meanwhile, La Rioja (5.7%), Murcia (7.5%) and Galicia (7.7%) recorded lower increases with respect to 2015.

Based on the number of house sales registered, the autonomous regions with the highest number of sales per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016 were the Balearic Islands (1,521), the Community of Valencia (1,478) and the Canary Islands (1,196).

89.7% of homes sold in 2016 were free (unsubsidised) and 10.3% were social housing properties. The number of unsubsidised homes sold increased by 13.5% with respect to 2015 and the number of social housing properties rose by 14.5%, according to INE.

For Fernando Encinar, Head of Research at Idealista, the strong increase in 2016 is “an accolade to the normalisation of the sector, which despite the turmoil in the mortgage market, managed to sell 50,000 more homes”. “Over the next few months, we will see the sales statistics continue to rise, although it is possible that we will see growth rates moderate slightly, driven by higher mortgage rates”, he added. (…) .

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: House Prices Will Grow By 3%-6% In 2017

16 January 2017 – El Mundo

One out of every two directors in the real estate sector in Spain believe that house prices at the national aggregate level will rise by between 3% and 6% in 2017, compared with only 21% that thought the same in 2016. That is one of the main conclusions of the Real Estate Trends Barometer compiled annually by CBRE, the largest international real estate consultancy and services firm. For the preparation of the Barometer, CBRE has surveyed the 100 main experts in the sector in our country.

This indicator is particularly important because it is the first time since the outbreak of the crisis that experts in the sector forecast an overall increase in prices in the Spanish residential market. That, together with other data, is evidence of the recovery in the housing market. In fact, 56% of the experts surveyed believe that the absorption of housing will gradually increase and half of them think that prime yields will grow in the residential sector.

Similarly, after property developers experienced a revival in 2016, 36% of those surveyed consider that most opportunities will be found in renovations within the residential segment in 2017, followed by new build homes, which means that the number of cranes should continue to follow the rising path that has already begun.

The awakening of property developers and real estate companies

Almost 60% of the experts consulted forecast that private investors and family offices will be more active in 2017 than last year, followed by core plus funds (according to 44%) and institutional investors (30%). Moreover, 58% of the directors in the sector think that opportunistic investors will decrease their activity in the market in 2017, an important change compared to recent years.

Nevertheless, the most striking conclusion is the perception that the people surveyed have of the role that property developers and real estate companies will play this year. In fact, 32.2% of those surveyed think that property developers will play a key role, compared with 6.6% who thought the same last year. Similarly, 44.4% (compared with 26.3% last year) think that their role will increase although in a less marked way.

Meanwhile, in terms of other players, the Socimis are expected to continue to play a key role according to one out of three experts. International investors will also be significant players in 2017, according to 31.5% and finally, domestic investors will remain stable with respect to last year or may even slightly increase their presence according to the vast majority.

Adolfo Ramírez-Escudero, President of CBRE Spain, added that “these forecasts seem to show a continuous line with respect to 2016, a year in which, according to our data, more than 40% of the €13,850 million invested in the real estate sector in our country came from overseas and when Socimis accounted for around 40% of the total capital invested”.

Offices will continue to attract most attention in the market

Like in the previous two years, the office sector will continue to be the most attractive in 2017. Whilst last year, 32% of those surveyed focused their real estate activity in Spain on that segment, this year 35% expect to do so, followed by 19% who are committed to the residential sector. Moreover, interest in the industrial-logistics sector has increased, up from 12% last year to 16% this year. (…).

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

Residential Sales Exceeded €51,852M In Total In 2015

14 March 2016 – Expansión

In this way, the amount of funds changing hands in the market for unsubsidised housing in 2015 continued the positive trend that it recovered in 2014, the year that saw the end of three consecutive years of decreases.

In the market for unsubsidised homes in Spain, €51,853.6 million changed hands in 2015, which represented an increase of 10.3% compared with the previous year (€47,022.1 million).

In addition, investment in housing returned to its 2011 levels, when €50,924.4 million was moved in the market and recorded the highest figure since 2010,when €80,782.2 million changed hands. The figure of €51,852.6 million corresponds to 382,691 transactions involving unsubsidised homes that were closed in 2015, up by 10.2% compared with a year earlier (347,170).

Specifically, sales involving second-hand unsubsidised homes amounted to €44,842.9 million (up by 12.9%), whilst sales involving new build homes were significantly lower, amounting to just €7,010.7 million (down by -3.8%).

Madrid was the region where the highest volume of transactions involving unsubsidised homes was recorded in 2015, with €10,103 million. Next in the ranking came Andalucía (€9,130.2 million), Cataluña (€9,387.9 million) and Valencia (€6,180.7 million).

Those regions were followed by the Balearic Islands (€2,857 million), País Vasco (€2,783.1 million), the Canary Islands (€2,217.4 million), Castilla y León (€1,616.4 million), Galicia (€1,514 million), Murcia (€1,188.8 million), Aragón (€1,178.7 million) and Castilla-La Mancha (€1,078.6 million).

Meanwhile, the regions where least money changed hands in the unsubsidised housing sector were: Asturias (€641.8 million), Cantabria (€590 million), Navarra (€527.6 million), Extremadura (€425.7 million), La Rioja (€299.7 million) and Ceuta and Melilla (€132.8 million between the two).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake