Galician Gov’t Sells 24% Of Its Discounted Industrial Land In 2 Years

23 January 2017 – La Opinión A Coruña

The Galician regional government (La Xunta) has recorded turnover of €31 million from the sale of 304 plots over the last two years, after applying a discount of €23.7 million. Its sales increased ten fold during the first year, but decreased by 55% in 2016.

The sale of industrial land by La Xunta decreased by 55% last year, despite significant reductions, of up to 50%, on the initial prices. Acquisitions of plots of land in public business parks have slowed, even though the large discounts and payment facilities have continued. Two years ago, the Executive launched a plan to lighten its stock of industrial land. The result is the sale of 24% of the land it put on offer.

In 2015, the Galician autonomous government, through Xestur and IGVS, managed to sell off 200 plots of land, covering 491,140 m2, after it launched its industrial land sales plan. It was a wake up call, given that it multiplied the surface area sold in the previous twelve months almost ten-fold, up from 53,515 m2 to almost 500,000 m2. Nevertheless, one year later, only 104 plots were purchased, covering a surface area of 195,722 m2. As such, four times more land was sold than before the discount plan was launched, but half as much than during the debut year.

Why the decrease? “There was a significant amount of activity in 2015 because business people made a huge effort to buy, as they expected the discounted prices to apply for one year only. In 2016, they realised that the discounts were permanent and so they were no longer in such a hurry to buy”, say sources at the Regional Ministry of Infrastructure. (…).

After two years, the Galician regional government has sold 304 plots, covering a combined surface area of 686,863 m2, which represents 23.8% of the total space it initially put up for sale. (…).

674 more plots are still on the market, covering a total surface area of 2.1 million m2 and with a global sales price of €139 million.

The sales volumes of plots in industrial parks vary by province. A Coruña was ranked second in terms of the number of operations (19.4%), behind Lugo (46%). It was followed by Ourense (18.6%) and Pontevedra (8%). (…).

Original story: La Opinión A Coruña (by P. Pérez, I. Bascoy and J. Carneiro)

Translation: Carmel Drake