Tag: private homes

Junta de Andalucía Puts 33,000 m2 of Land Up For Sale in Córdoba

4 February 2018 – La Vanguardia

The Junta de Andalucía’s Ministry of Development and Housing has launched its first regional land sale of the year in the province of Córdoba, comprising 15 residential and industrial plots, which span 32,989 m2 in total and with an asking price of €5.8 million.

In this regard and in statements to Europa Press, the delegate for Housing and Development at the Junta in Córdoba, Josefina Vioque, said that “with this initiative, we are continuing our strategy of selling some of the land owned by the Agency for Housing and Rehabilitation in Andalucía (AVRA), which obtained such good results in 2017, with the award of almost 22,000 m2”.

The objective, according to Vioque, is “to generate revenues that allow us to strengthen the promotion of our activities of a social nature in terms of housing, especially the promotion of subsidised housing”.

This new tender for the sale of regional land includes seven plots classified as industrial and tertiary, measuring 10,871 m2, and eight units classified as residential, with capacity for 238 homes.

Of the latter, four are reserved for the construction of 188 social housing properties, on a surface area of 17,374 m2, whilst the other four, spanning 4,743 m2, have capacity for 50 private homes.

According to the delegate, the industrial plots are located in the municipalities of Adamuz, Cabra, El Carpio and Córdoba, whilst the social housing plots are located in the provincial capital and in Rute, and the private housing plots are also located in the capital and in the municipality of Obejo.

The tender, which will be open for the presentation of proposals until 1 March, and which will be resolved after the envelopes are opened, scheduled for 12 March, at AVRA’s central headquarters in Sevilla, also includes nine retail premises and 19 parking spaces in Córdoba, Lucena and Rute.

According to Vioque, “the drive to manage AVRA’s owned properties has become a priority since the start of this legislature, give our aim to put these assets on the market at the service of business initiatives, to promote economic development and the generation of employment in the construction sector, one of the hardest hit during the crisis”.

Josefina Vioque said that “with this initiative, the Junta also seeks to reactivate the construction of VPO homes, to facilitate access to housing for families in most need, since these operations are going to allow us to resume, once again, the promotion of these types of subsidised homes, which are more affordable for people with fewer resources”.

Land sold in 2017

This tender follows others carried out during 2017, which saw the award of a total surface area of 21,946 m2  and the generation of revenues amounting to €6 million (…).

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Work Begins on the First 142 Homes in Hacienda del Rosario (Sevilla)

8 January 2018 – Emvisesa

Today, the mayor of Sevilla, Juan Espadas, together with the representative for Urban Habitats, Culture and Tourism, Antonio Muñoz, the representative for the Este-Alcosa-Torreblanca District, Adela Castaño and the manager of Emvisesa, Felipe Castro, have visited the new housing development in Jardines de Hacienda del Rosario (Sevilla), where the first 142 homes are now being built on a site where more than 2,000 new homes are planned. In total, the urban development planned in the PGOU affects more than 460,000 m2 of space including residential land, open spaces, green areas and other facilities.

“This development shows that the large projects planned in the PGOU are being unblocked and that the housing sector is reactivating, which should contribute to the city through new developments and renovations to generate opportunities, especially for young people, to reduce unemployment and to increase the population registered in Sevilla. It must always be done in a sustainable and balanced way”, said the mayor of Sevilla, who highlighted that the model also includes a mix of private and subsidised homes, like in the case of Hacienda del Rosario. Of the 2,000 homes planned there, 824 will be social housing properties.

The urban development has been initiated by Aedas Homes, with the first of seven private residential buildings, inside a residential complex with more than 33,000 m2 of open space, including garden areas, a social club and children’s play areas. In total, 142 of the 1,000 homes planned are being constructed and the idea is that these first properties will be handed over at the beginning of 2019.

This same urban development is one of those included in the strategy to urgently expand the public stock of homes designed by Emvisesa with the aim of building 1,000 social housing properties over the next few years. To this end, the paperwork has been started by the Urban Planning Department to grant Evisesa the first plot in Hacienda del Rosario so that it can build 218 subsidised homes there on the plot measuring 9,044 m2.

Juan Espadas has confirmed that Emvisesa’s Board of Directors has already given the green light to the provision by the Urban Planning Department of a plot for the construction of a first set of 218 homes at affordable prices, to be constructed and promoted by Emvisesa. Therefore, there will be a harmonious development of affordable and private housing, like has been seen in other neighbourhoods in the city.

“Many projects are being unblocked, which reflects the economic reactivation that is being achieved in the city”, explains the mayor of Sevilla. In fact, the volume of building permits granted in 2017 exceeded €230 million, almost double the volume granted in the previous year. Moreover, more than 1,000 housing licences were granted, equivalent to the sum of all of those granted in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

In this sense, the mayor highlighted the importance of the definitive approval at the recent Plenary of the modification to the Ordinance Regulating Construction Work and Activity (OROA) issued by the Town Hall of Sevilla to streamline the procedures and facilitate the opening of new projects in the city, as well as the process that is entering its final phase to unify the services of Urban Planning and the Environment.

Original story: Emvisesa

Translation: Carmel Drake

Notaries: House Sales Rose By 8.6% In Sept To 40,094

20 November 2017 – Eje Prime

House sales are continuing to soar. The volume of residential transactions rose by 8.6% in September with respect to the same month in 2016 (and by 12.2% in the series corrected for seasonality) to 40,094 operations, according to data from the General Council of Notaries.

By type of home, the sale of apartments registered a YoY increase of 7.7% (up by 11.3% in the series corrected for seasonality) and the volume of private home sales rose by 8.%. This increase in the number of transactions involving private homes was due, exclusively, to the expansion of second-hand home sales (10%), given that the sale of new build homes decreased by 1.9% YoY. Meanwhile, the sale of family homes rose by 12% YoY.

In terms of average prices, the cost per square metre of the homes purchased in September 2017 amounted to €1,331/m2, whereby reflecting a YoY price increase of 2.4%. According to the notaries, this increase in the price per square metre of homes was due to both an increase in the price of family homes (1.4%) and an increase in the price of apartments (3.8%). Meanwhile, the price per square metre of private homes rose by 4%.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Junta De Andalucía Puts 6 Plots Of Land Up For Sale In Rincón de la Victoria

12 November 2017 – 20 Minutos

The plots of land are located in the Malagan municipality of Rincón de la Victoria and the Junta has put them on the market for a total price of €15.8 million. This represents the fourth and final sale of the year in the province.

The representative for Development and Housing in Málaga, Francisco Fernández España, reiterated that this initiative from the regional Government seeks “to boost the promotion of housing in the province, especially social housing properties, and place public land assets at the disposal of the local production fabric”.

According to España, the objective is to “boost” economic activity and “generate employment” in Málaga, whereby allowing “business and industrial development by making these plots of land available”.

Moreover, the representative highlighted that the revenues generated from the sale of these assets will be used to allocate resources to the “housing policies, especially orientated at helping the most vulnerable families and those who can least afford to buy a home”.

At the same time, he continued, the revenues will be used to “facilitate companies’ ability to undertake their production activity and grow and expand with new plots”. In this way, he said that this land sale will also contribute to the reactivation of the construction sector and to the generation of employment in a sector that was hit very hard by the crisis”.

According to a statement issued by the Junta, the last land offer of the year seeks to “transfer land that has already been classified as developable by the Agency for Housing and Rehabilitation in Andalucía (AVRA) and therefore, that is ready to be built on”. (…).

Of the six plots, the largest one has capacity for 88 homes and the smallest one, for 50 homes. In addition to these plots, the offer includes two retail premises in the centre of Málaga and five parking spaces in the Malagan municipalities of Villanueva del Rosario and Ronda.

Plots in Andalucía

This new offer comes after AVRA has sold plots with capacity for the construction of 1,473 homes, mostly social housing properties, during the current legislature. Those plots have a combined surface area of 287,282 m2, split between residential and industrial use across the whole of Andalucía, according to the Junta.

The recovery of land management by AVRA has allowed it to sell plots with a combined sales price of €50.2 million in total since 2015, according to the Andalucían Government.

Of those plots, the land dedicated to residential use amounts to 107,928 m2, with capacity for the construction of 1,473 homes, of which 891 will be social housing units and the remaining 582 will be private homes.

Meanwhile, industrial land amounted to 179,353 m2 and the vast majority of that is located in the province of Jaén, in particular in the municipalities of Alcalá la Real, Martos and Linares.

Original story: 20 Minutos

Translation: Carmel Drake

Junta De Andalucía Puts 777 More Industrial & Residential Plots Up For Sale

7 November 2017 – La Vanguardia

The Ministry of Development and Housing, through its Agency for Housing and Rehabilitation in Andalucía (AVRA), has launched a new supply of residential and industrial land for sale, spanning 900,500 m2 and distributed over 777 plots across all of the provinces in the autonomous region.

According to a statement from the department led by Felipe López, this latest supply comes after the current legislature has already sold plots with capacity for 1,473 homes, mostly social housing properties, and a total of 287,282 m2 of land for residential and industrial use.

In its last land offer of the year, the Ministry of Development and Housing highlights that it is seeking to sell land that already received planning permission from AVRA – and therefore, which is ready to build on – during the years before the crisis, like on the previous occasions since it resumed this activity at the beginning of the current legislature. With this, the Junta wants to boost the construction of homes, especially social housing properties, and to encourage investment in the business fabric using the industrial land on offer (…).

According to the Ministry, the recovery of the management of AVRA’s land has allowed it to sell plots since 2015 whose combined sales price amounts to €50.2 million. The Agency has used the funds raised to boost new initiatives aimed at facilitating access to housing for those families with the fewest resources (…).

The bidding opens on 27 November

The new supply of land that the Junta is putting up for sale comprises land spanning 900,500 m2, distributed across 777 plots, with a combined total price of €117.6 million. 430 of the plots are for industrial and tertiary use, spanning 529,123 m2, whose combined price amounts to €40.6 million.

The residential land supply comprises 114 plots, spanning 97,134 m2, for 1,482 social housing properties, with a total price of €23.5 million; and another 220 plots, measuring 270,127 m2 for 1,559 private homes, with a price of €53.4 million. The Director General of Real Estate also owns another 134 plots for private residential use, with the capacity for 53 homes, whose management has been entrusted to the AVRA. These plots have an asking price of €3.8 million. The residential development plots are distributed across all eight of Andalucía’s provinces.

In addition, the sale includes 269 garages (€3.2 million), 112 premises (€15.2 million) and 10 storerooms (total price of €45,532) (…). Specifically, the date scheduled for the opening of bids is 27 November.

Original story: La Vanguardia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Alicante Global Group Teams Up With Basque Property Developer Ferrocarril

25 October 2017 – Valencia Plaza

Alicante Global Group, the new real estate venture from the former President of the Santa Ana group, Juan Antonio Iniesta, and the former President of the Alicante employers’ association Coepa, Moisés Jiménez, to place property developments foreclosed by the banks back on the market, is expanding its base.

According to Iniesta himself, in statements to Alicante Plaza, the businessmen from Alicante have joined forces with the Basque property developer Grupo Ferrocarril (which is now based in Rivas Vaciamadrid), which will be in charge of finishing and selling those developments.

As this newspaper published at the time, Alicante Global Group, comprising the Alicante-based companies The Casas Company and Alicia Hoteles, was created with the intention of acquiring developments foreclosed by banks during the toughest years of the real estate crisis, completing them, revaluing them and putting them back on the market. The Group signed its first operation in May with Liberbank: two residential towers in Gran Vía, Alicante, and several villas in the luxury residential development Altea Hills.

The partner that Iniesta and Jiménenez have been looking for in this regard is the Basque property developer Grupo Ferrocarril, which specialises in the construction of private homes and social housing, both in its home region and also in Madrid in recent years. The group, chaired by the businessman Rafael González Cobos, has, in turn, formed a strategic alliance of its own with the Madrilenian giant in the sector Grupo Avintia, owned by the property developer Antonio Martín Jiménez, which has been heavily backing the Community of Valencia: at the start of 2016, it inaugurated its offices in Valencia capital, and it now has eight projects underway there (one of which is actually in Alicante) and more than 600 homes under construction. Together, the two firms have created the Ferrocarril Avintia group to operate in South America (…).

According to explanations provided by Iniesta to questions posed by this newspaper, it is likely that Martín Jiménez’s company (Grupo Avintia) will be responsible for the execution of most of the improvements of the acquired developments, by virtue of its agreement with Ferrocarril (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by David Martínez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Buys Residential Building From Renta Corporación For Social Housing

23 October 2017 – Expansión

Ada Colau is pushing ahead with her mission to recover residential buildings for the citizens of Barcelona. Her most recent battle has seen her conquer Renta Corporación, one of the traditional real estate companies dedicated to the purchase of old buildings in El Eixample and the subsequent rescission of contracts with tenants, with the aim of renovating and selling the properties. The Town Hall has exerted its right of first refusal for the building located at number 394 on Calle Còrsega in Barcelona, between Bruc and Girona, for which it has paid €5.85 million.

For its purchase of the building, Ada Colau’s Government has argued that the operation comes in response to “extraordinary and urgent measures to mobilise homes resulting from mortgage foreclosure processes”, together with “measures to protect the right to housing for people at risk of social exclusion”.

The Town Hall’s intention is to hand over the building, free of charges, to Patronat Municipal d’Habitatge so that it can be used as homes for social purposes.

The right of first refusal and withdrawal is a practice included in the Housing Law that the Parlament approved in 2007, although its use had been rare until now. It received a boost following the election of Ada Colau as mayor of the Catalan capital in June 2015.

The most recent balance reported by the municipal government includes the first year and a half of the mandate. In that regard, the Town Hall applied the right of first refusal and withdrawal in 87 of the 154 homes that it acquired.

Those figures have increased this year with several operations in that vein. The most significant deals have taken place at number 7, 9 and 11 on Calle Lancaster and number 37 on Calle Leiva.

In the first case, the Town Hall spent €5.65 million buying 41 homes spread over three blocks. In the second case, it paid €2.75 million to Anida – a subsidiary of BBVA – to avoid the sale of the block to a fund.

The municipal government also exercised its right of first refusal and withdrawal this summer to buy three plots of land on the former La Escocesa factory premises, in Poblenou, for €10.11 million. The hundreds of luxury homes that were planned for those plots are no longer going to be built, with social housing properties and facilities now planned for the site instead.

The housing plan that the plenary approved at the beginning of the year includes modalities that go beyond constructing new blocks for rent-protected and social housing homes. They include continuing with the acquisition of homes from financial institutions or their transfer for a period of time, buying blocks in neighbourhoods where the urban fabric is consolidated – such as in Calle Còrsega – and exploring co-housing: the transfer of homes at below-market prices for between 50 and 100 years.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés and D. Casals)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Anticipa Real Estate: House Sales Could Reach 526,000 In 2018

20 October 2017 – El País

House sales in Spain may reach 526,000 units in 2018, up by 9.3% with respect to the 481,000 operations that are expected to be closed in 2017 (which, in turn, represents 10.1% more than last year), provided financing conditions and the performance of the Spanish and Eurozone economies continue on course. Of that total, the bulk will be replacement homes (upgrades) and just 275,000 will involve the creation of new households. Moreover, the prices of new and second-hand homes will continue to rise with a growth rate of 5.8% during the fourth quarter of 2017 and of another 5% during 2018, although they will still be 23% lower than the peaks recorded in 2007.

Those are some of the findings of a report by Anticipa Real Estate, specialising in real estate management and loans, and belonging to the international fund Blackstone, about the housing market in Spain 2017-2019, which the firm’s CEO, Eduard Mendiluce, presented at the Barcelona Meeting Point conference, together with Josep Oliver, a professor from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), whose team compiled the research.

The increase that is forecast by the company with respect to the minimums recorded in 2013, when just 285,000 transactions were completed, will reach 85% by 2018. Nevertheless, according to Professor Oliver, the market volumes are still 42% below the peaks of 2006, when more than 900,000 private homes were sold.

Other figures that are below the maximums reached in the boom years are the number of finished homes (private and social housing properties) in Spain. The report sets a total of 63,400 units for 2019, compared to 62,900 units forecast for 2017. Although these figures represent a significant increase (more than 48%) with respect to the minimum recorded in 2016 (42,700 finished homes), the volume is 90% lower than the expansion peaks.

In terms of Cataluña, the research indicates that the number of private home sales should amount to around 82,000 during 2017 as a whole (up by 10.8% YoY) and 90,000 during 2018 (up by 9.8%). In terms of prices, they are forecast to increase by 6.9% in 2017 and by 6.1% in 2018. Given that the reduction in house prices was greater in Cataluña than across Spain as a whole (almost 45% compared to 37%), prices in 2018 are still expected to be 27% lower than those of 2007.

Original story: El País (by S.L.L)

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: House Sales Rose By 16% YoY In August To 41,282

11 October 2017 – Expansión

House sales rose by 16% in August with respect to the same month in 2016, to reach 41,282 operations, according to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE). With the YoY increase in August, the volume of house sales recorded four consecutive months of increases.

In inter-monthly terms (August vs July), the sale of homes rose by 6.3%, its second highest increase in a month of August for the last five years. Although the increase in August was slightly lower than that recorded in July (16.8%), the number of house sales (41,282) recorded its third-highest figure since February 2011, exceeded only by May and June, when more than 44,000 sales were closed.

Transactions involving second-hand homes increased by 14.9% in August compared to the same month in 2016, to reach a total of 33,886, whilst the sale of new builds rose by 21.3% in YoY terms, to 7,396 transactions. “The residential market is showing clear signs of growth thanks to the strong performance of the economy, the consolidation of the mortgage market and the return of confidence to a sector that has been reviled for years and that is now starting to arouse interest again”, explains Beatriz Toribio, Head of Research at Fotocasa.

Based on data for August from INE, Toribio highlights the progress in the new build segment, which grew by 21.3% in YoY terms compared with 14.9% in the second-hand market. “The recovery of the real estate market has brought with it an increase in the volume of off-plan purchases and property developer activity, which will serve to alleviate the shortage in the supply of new homes, which is becoming more evident in large cities”, she added. “In 2017, new build homes will recover some of the limelight lost during nine years of consecutive decreases”.

90.6% of the homes sold during the eighth month of the year were private and 9.4% were subsidised social housing properties. The sale of private homes rose by 16.6% in YoY terms in August, to reach 37,412 transactions, whilst operations involving social housing properties rose by 10.2%, to 3,870 transactions.

The highest volumes of house sales for every 100,000 inhabitants were recorded in the Community of Valencia (163), the Balearic Islands (152) and Andalucía (125). Andalucía was the region where the most house sales were registered during the eighth month of the year, with 8,224 sales, followed by Cataluña (6,720) and the Community of Valencia (6,370). The regions that recorded the fewest number of house sales were La Rioja (262), Navarra (477) and Cantabria (507).

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Vía Célere To Build 1,700 Homes In Sevilla Este

21 September 2017 – ABC de Sevilla

The construction of new homes is recovering with a vengeance in the Andalucían capital, after years of stagnation. The revitalisation, which started with small developments in city centre neighbourhoods, has taken a leap with several million-euro investments to acquire land, such as the deal announced yesterday by the property developer Vía Célere. The Madrilenian based firm is planning to build 1,700 homes on the more than 150,000 m2 of land that it has acquired in the city, the largest operation of this kind since the crisis.

Sources at the company confirmed to ABC that this land is located in Sevilla Este, where an ambitious urban project is going to take shape between now and 2023. The property developer, which has been reluctant to reveal the exact location details, has spent €26.5 million to acquire plots of land, close to the Aquópolis aquatic park, which were once owned by the real estate company Osuna and which ended up in the hands of several banking entities.

This package forms part of a much larger plan that also includes land acquisitions in Getafe and Valladolid. Nevertheless, the project in Sevilla will be the largest. The negotiations have been quick, according to the company itself, which began conversations in July and sealed the deal just a few days ago.

Not a single VPO property

The intention is to build private housing blocks only on this land over a five-year timeframe. In fact, the acquisition of these plots is accompanied by a commitment to build homes (…).

The President of Vía Célere, Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, said in a statement that the company will continue to grow its land bank “at a sustainable pace, in line with demand”. He also revealed that since the beginning of the year, his firm has added 393,000m2 of buildable land to its portfolio, which will allow it to build up to 3,800 homes over the next few years right across Spain.

Interest from the USA

The capital that has motivated this welcome resurgence in the real estate sector in Sevilla has come from the other side of the Atlantic. The US fund Värde Partners, which acquired this Madrilenian company just a few months ago, will finance the construction with contributions from its shareholders.

The gigantic Hacienda Rosario project, involving more than 1,000 homes, has been presented under very similar conditions. It is being promoted by Aedas Homes – in whose share capital the US investment fund Castlelake holds a stake – on land located to the south of the Torreblanca neighbourhood, between the A-8028 road and Calle Parsi (…).

Original story: ABC de Sevilla (by Elena Martos)

Translation: Carmel Drake