6 August 2019
A total of 168 office rental contracts, totalling 249,000 square meters, were signed in Barcelona in the first six months of the year, an increase of 17% year-on-year and a series high.
The 22@ district accounted for 32% of the 168 operations. The average area leased also reached a high of 1,266 square meters. Co-working companies were again a major engine of market growth.
Original Story: Eje Prime
Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner
10 October 2018
Iberdrola Inmobiliaria has leased space in its Malaga Business Park, located within the Technological Park of Andalusia (PTA), to the American multinational Keysight.
Malaga is still on a roll. The capital of Malaga is no longer just on the map of the Spanish real estate market because of its residential sector, as evidenced by Iberdrola Inmobiliaria’s rental of 2,200 square meters of offices to the US multinational Keysight Technologies.
The Californian company will take over space in several buildings in the Malaga Business Park, located within the Technological Park of Andalucía (PTA). The operation is one of the largest this year in the province, by volume, and also completes the occupation of the office complex.
Keysight will now become a neighbour to other large corporations such as PwC, Riplife Gaming Technologies, Unitono and Eurocem, as noted by Iberdrola’s real estate arm. In its entirety, the Malaga Business Park has 18,000 square meters of constructed area.
This most recent transaction is a reflection of the growth of the office market in the city of Malaga, where the occupation of its prime areas exceeds 90%, as EjePrime reported last March. The Malagan office market saw significant demand in the central zone and the financial area of the capital in 2017. In these two areas, the stock of available offices was significantly reduced, which led to an increase in rents to 18 euros per square meter in the central street Larios, according to a report by Savills Aguirre Newman.
Original Story: EjePrime
Translation: Richard Turner
9 October 2018
The asset, located at 66 Calle de Tangér, is owned by UK & European Investments and has five floors and 7,200 square meters.
The US-based tech giant is moving to Madrid’s 22@. Barcelona’s technology district, a benchmark in today’s office market, will now play host to Hewlett & Packard (HP), which has just leased an entire office building at Calle Tangér from UK & European Investments, the real estate developer announced.
The property, located at 66 Calle de Tangér, a centrally located street in the district, has five floors and 7,200 square meters of surface area, 800 square meters or which are on the roof, with stunning views of Barcelona.
The American technology will set up shop next door to other giants of the tech sector, including Amazon and WeWork in the Luxa office complex, which is owned by Catalana Occidente. Other large international firms, mostly related to technology, have also recently moved to the area: Facebook moved into Merlin’s iconic Torre Glòries, while Schibsted and King will share a space in a new building that Colonial is building in 22@.
UK & European Investments acquired HP’s new home in Barcelona in July 2016. The asset underwent a complete rehabilitation, converting an industrial building into an office building, the first in Barcelona to have a Leed Platinum certificate. The London architectural office of Buckley Gray Yeoman (BGY) and Spain’s Deerns participated in the project.
UK & European Investments, headquartered in London and headed by its CEO, Barney Kelham, specialises in the development of prime industrial-style office spaces. In Spain, where the firm has an office, the company’s rehabilitation of the 66 Calle de Tangér building is one of several projects that the group has underway in the country, with a gross total development value of more than 130 million euros. Among them, two residential projects in Madrid and Marbella stand out.
TLG, a private investment firm that operates in eleven countries, with a significant presence in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany and Spain, owns the company. The firm is active in fashion distribution, fund management, hotels and venture capital.
Original Story: EjePrime
Translation: Richard Turner
21 August 2018
The lack of available land is the reason that only 2% of the acquisitions of homes are for new housing in Spain’s third biggest city by population.
Valencia is after new land to re-energise its real estate market. With stable prices and an increasing number of transactions, the absence of new buildings is palpable in the statistics for the first quarter of this year, when just 2.3% of purchases (a total of 2,658) were for newly-built homes.
With a population that has been relatively stable in recent years, around 790,000 inhabitants, the city of Turia has doubled the number homes sold in the city since 2013, from 4,922 operations that year to 10,973 last year.
This has not yet pushed up prices, but it has been the basis for recovery. After the harsh effects of the crisis (apartments are 45% cheaper today than in 2007), housing prices reached 1,235.60 euros per square meter in the first quarter of this year, according to data on bank valuations at the Ministry of Public Works.
In homes less than five years old, the average price rose to 1,536.90 euros in the first quarter, while in second-hand homes, the investment needed to acquire a home fell to 1,233.70 euros per square meter.
The absence of development ready lands is a fact for the Spanish city’s real estate developers. According to a report by CBRE, the city is currently in the midst of desvloping and marketing sixty new construction projects, and it is expected that twenty more will be put on the market by the end of the year. Companies such as Neinor, Aelca and Aedas have housing developments in neighbourhoods such as Quatre Carreres, Patraix, Nou Campanar and Malilla Norte.
However, the high demand will cause prices to rise if more land is not made available, according to the consultancy. Metrovacesa’s project for the development of Benimaclet could be one of the most outstanding in this regard in Valencia. The real estate company controlled by Santander and BBVA is pushing for an agreement to present to Valencia City Council a project to build 1,500 homes in partnership with the local developer Urben.
Vía Célere is another of the developers active in the city: the company will build 22 homes in the Pechina neighbourhood, next to the Turia gardens. Aedas Homes is more advanced: the Spanish developer has sold another 120 homes in Turia’s capital through its Torres project, a residential complex that will be composed of two 16-floor apartment blocks. Aedas also has 252 flats in Valencia.
Residential prices in Valencia are now 45% lower than before the start of the crisis, but the city has great appeal, and the activity of private operators has been intense. Attikos is another local developer that has carried out work in the city, with the purchase of 1.9 million euros of development-ready land, where it will build 27 houses.
Offices on the rise
With a total of 63,480 companies, 88.2% of which are in the service industry, the office market in Valencia saw record allocations last year. According to a report by BNP Paribas Real Estate, the contracting amounted to 39,500 square meters in 2017, which caused a slight upward trend in rental prices, which are close to 14.5 euros per square meter in the city centre.
“Since the end of 2013, the last year of economic recession, demand has been positive,” the consultancy noted. “The good pace of allocations in recent years, together with the lack of new projects, are generating a considerable adjustment in the vacancy rate of the Valencian market which, fell to 10.4% at the end of 2017, out of a total stock of 774,000 square meters. This means that there are currently 80,546 square meters of available offices on the market,” they added.
One of the most notable operations in recent months was the rental of the former headquarters of CAM, leased by Solvia to the architectural firm Join Contract. The property’s new tenant will remodel it to transform it into a luxury hotel.
Original Story: EjePrime – C. De Angelis
Translation: Richard Turner
14 August 2018
The French company, specialised in digital marketing, will occupy an entire, 8,500-square-meter building on Almogàvers Street. The company will leave Torre Mapfre and double its workforce.
The neighbourhood of 22@ will have a new and famous neighbour starting next year. The French multinational Criteo will move its offices in Barcelona to the city’s technological district in 2019, after signing the lease for an entire, 8,500-square-meter building on Almogàvers Street that is owned by the Oaktree and Freo investment funds.
Operating from the Torre Mapfre since 2014, Criteo plans to expand its presence in the Catalan capital, where it has its second-largest office in Europe (just behind its headquarters in Paris), with its new headquarters in Barcelona. The company will double its workforce, from the current 350 employees to a high of 700, according to Expansión.
The building in which the multinational will take up residence will be completely renovated by the Barcelona architectural office of BCA, one of the most active in the area of 22@ and will involve an investment of twelve million euros.
The building is located in what is known as the golden mile of the tech hub, at 177-185 Almogàvers street, very close to the Glories Tower, an icon of the district. The building has three floors, 600 square meters of terrace on the roof and a large central atrium.
Original Story: EjePrime
Translation: Richard Turner
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