Tag: recovery

Plan Nazaret Recovers 230,000 m2 of the Port of Valencia for the City

11 January 2019 – Inmodiario

The Board of Directors of the Port Authority has approved the Nazaret Este Plan, which represents the first step in the development of a new area in the Nazaret neighbourhood of Valencia.

The mayor of the city, Joan Ribó, has highlighted the importance of the approval of this plan, which will involve the recovery of 230,000 m2 of land in the Port for citizens, of which more than 86,000 m2 will be configured into a large green space: the future “Rivermouth Park”, which will connect with the end of the Turia Channel.

According to the mayor, “it will be one of the largest parks in Valencia. It will be connected to the river and will have green corridors that will link up with the L’Albufera National Park (…)”.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ministry of Development: New Housing Permits Rose by 23.2% in October

29 December 2018 – El Economista

The permits authorised for new residential construction in Spain amounted to 83,882 units between January and October 2018, which represented an increase of 23.2% in comparison to the same period a year earlier (68,084 units).

According to data from the Ministry of Development, of the total number of permits approved, 66,032 were for flats in housing blocks (a YoY rise of 27.7%) and 17,831 were for single-family homes, up by 9%. Moreover, 19 permits were requested for other types of buildings.

The new build permits authorised are following a positive path so far in 2018, after four years on the rise to reach 80,876 units in total in 2017, which represented an increase of 26.1% compared to the previous year.

In the past, in 2016, permits rose by 28.9%, after increasing by 42.5% in 2015, which consolidated the recovery initiated in 2014, the year that broke seven consecutive years of decreases with a slight rise of 1.7%.

This real estate indicator reached a historical minimum in 2013 (34,288 units), a figure that represented a slump of 96% from the peak registered in 2006 with 865,561 permits.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Registrars: 400,000 Homes Sold During 9 Months to September 2018

16 November 2018 – Expansión

The housing market is showing a dynamism during 2018 not seen since the years before the crisis. The boost in demand in the last few months has resulted in the sale of almost 400,000 homes during the 9 months to September, the highest figure since 2008, which is driving prices up.

House sales amounted to 396,481 units between January and September, up by 12.5% compared to the same period in 2017, and the highest figure recorded since 2008, when 448,146 units were sold during the first 9 months to September, according to Real Estate Registry Statistics for the third quarter, published yesterday by the College of Registrars.

Data for the first nine months of the year also came close to the figure recorded for 2017 as a whole, bearing in mind that last year 464,223 transactions were closed in total. This year, it is likely that a record figure will be registered, which could reach half a million operations. During the third quarter, 133,295 operations were closed. “These results confirm the notable strength of the housing market (for sales)”, explained sources at the College of Registrars.

The strong dynamism responds in large part to the demand for investment. Buying a home for rent has become an alternative refuge for domestic and overseas investors alike, who find returns in the real estate market that other assets, such as deposits and public debt cannot offer. Moreover, during the last 12 months, the initial interest rate for taking out a mortgage has been at a historical low (2.27%).

The strong activity in the sector is also raising house prices, which increased by 6.7% in YoY terms in the last quarter. The recovery of the sector has allowed prices to rise to 26.5% above their minimum levels. Over the next few months, the registrars expect prices to continue to evolve in line with their current performance, albeit at single-digit rates. The rises will be greater in the main capitals.

These increases are being favoured by the heating up of the sector in certain areas. The largest increases during the third quarter were recorded in Teruel (37%), Huelva (34.8%) and Castellón (33.8%), but Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga led the activity in the market in absolute terms, with 20,048 homes sold in the case of Madrid, 14,217 in Barcelona and 9,828 in Málaga (…).

Foreigners are buying more homes than ever in Spain. According to data from the General Council of Notaries, during the first half of the year, they closed 53,359 operations, the highest absolute figure in the historical series, which began at the start of 2007.

By segment, second-hand homes continue to account for the majority of the market, with 82.4% of sales, compared with 17.57% for new homes (…).

Sources at the College of Registrars detect a possible “scenario that is running out of steam following the intense upward path that has been seen over the last few quarters”, and they warn that we “may have reached a maximum point in the current cycle in terms of the number of house sales”.

That is partly due to the increase in prices, which “is not sustainable or desirable in the current economic situation”. The intense double-digit growth in prices seen in recent months “cannot be borne by a market comprising potential buyers whose incomes cannot absorb such an intense increase in prices”.

But they clarify that it does not mean that we are going to see a correction (reduction) in prices in YoY terms, rather that we can expect more moderate increases (…).

Original story: Expansión (by I. Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zaragoza Leads the Sale of New Build Homes in Spain

5 November 2018 – El Periódico de Aragón

Zaragoza is still leading the sales of new build homes in Spain. Last year, it was the third-ranked city in the country, after Madrid and Barcelona, in terms of sales volumes, with 800 transactions, and in 2018, it is maintaining that trend. In fact, during the second quarter of the year, the Aragonese capital recorded the sale of 305 new homes, exceeded only by Madrid. That is according to the latest report compiled by the real estate consultancy firm CBRE, which shows that the evolution of Zaragoza this year is even better than last year: 537 new build house sales were recorded during the first half of this year, and so all indications are that they will exceed the 800 units recorded in 2017.

According to the experts, pent-up demand during the years of the crisis, which forced many citizens to postpone their decision to buy a home due to the economic uncertainty, and the current supply of high-quality homes for sale at reasonable prices, are the main causes behind Zaragoza’s leadership of the sector.

Of course, the data is still light years away from the figures recorded before the crisis. “There is still a long way to go in the new build construction market”, said the Director of CBRE in Zaragoza, Miguel Ángel Gómez. During the peak of the real estate boom, 4,000 sales were recorded per quarter in Aragón, and 45% of those were in the new build segment, but that percentage has now dropped to 12%. The figures confirm that the reactivation of the sector is based almost exclusively on second-hand homes. “The supply of second-hand homes is enormous, for that reason, as property developers we have to offer a differentiated, high-quality product if we want to attract customers”, said the President of the Confederation of Construction Companies of Aragón (CEAC) and the Director General of the Lobe group, Juan Carlos Bandrés.

Data relating to the number of building permits that the Town Hall of Zaragoza is granting confirms the new build recovery: last year, 1,526 permits were granted, compared with 1,040 in 2015. This year, it seems that the number of permits granted is decreasing although we still have two months of the year left to run. Either way, the figure is well below the 3,150 recorded in 2009 and light years away from the 8,940 registered in 2006.

The experts also attribute the better performance of Zaragoza compared to other major cities in Spain to the fact that the community has managed to maintain “its own financial system” (Ibercaja), which continues to back the projects of property developers. “Here, there are more possibilities to take projects forward”, highlights Bandrés (…).

Original story: El Periódico de Aragón (by Rubén López)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Idealista: House Prices Soar by 18%+ in Madrid, Málaga and Las Palmas

3 November 2018 – Expansión

In October, the residential market recorded its largest increase in 2018. House prices rose by 10.5% on average across Spain in year on year terms, after recording an average cumulative increase of 7.7% during the first nine months of the year, according to the latest data published by the real estate portal Idealista.

But although the growth is generalised across Spain, it is the large capitals that are driving the sector. “Prices are continuing to rise in a general way, but they are doing so at two speeds. Whilst in half of the markets, the YoY growth rates are in the single digits, it is the major capitals that are responsible for the YoY growth of more than 10% that is being seen across Spain as a whole”, said Fernando Encinar, Head of Research at Idealista.

House prices are rising at double-digit rates in 15 Spanish capitals. More specifically, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Madrid and Málaga are leading the charge. House prices in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria soared by 21.2%, the largest increase across the whole country, taking the average price there to €1,929/m2.

They were followed by Madrid, where, despite the overheating of the market (the average price of €3,827/m2 is only exceeded by Barcelona and San Sebastián), house prices rose by 19.2%. In third position, Málaga saw an increase of 18.8%, to €2,229/m2.

The residential sector in Málaga, which bottomed out in 2013, has been experiencing an increase in its recovery, boosted by its tourist appeal. “In addition to Barcelona and Madrid, certain other capitals, such as Málaga and Palma de Mallorca, are joining the previous two (…) with more acute increases than the rest, above 5% in all of them”, explain sources at Sociedad de Tasación.

Currently, the Málagan capital is one of those that makes up the second wave of cities that are leading the house price increases. “Despite these increases, none of the capitals has reached the peaks of 2007, with the exception of Palma”, added Encinar.

Finally, at the bottom of the pile are those inland provincial capitals, where depopulation and less economic dynamism are hampering the evolution of the sector.

Specifically, prices in Ávila fell by 2.4%, in Jaén by 1.6%, and in Teruel by 1.2%. Meanwhile, prices recorded moderate decreases in A Coruña, Oviedo and Ourense of 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.

Nevertheless, the greatest correction in prices was experienced in Tarragona, with a decrease of 2.8%, in line with the deceleration of the market in Barcelona, where house prices rose by only 1.1%.

Original story: Expansión (by Inma Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urban Outfitters to Open Spain’s First Anthropologie Store in Barcelona

25 October  2018 – Eje Prime

The Spanish retail sector is welcoming a new international operator. After an arduous two-year search for premises on the prime high streets of Madrid and Barcelona, Urban Outfitters has found a space to launch its first Anthropologie store in the country. This debut comes four years after the US fashion group first opened its doors in the heart of the Catalan capital.

Anthropologie is soon going to open at number 27 Paseo de Gracia, in a store measuring almost 780 m2, distributed over two floors and owned by a family office. The chain is going to take over from the Italian firm Twinset Milano, which will shut down in the next few days. The rental operation has been brokered by the real estate consultancy firm Aretail.

Specifically, the ground floor of the future Anthropologie establishment has a surface area 365 m2, whilst the basement spans 414 m2. The company will share the street with luxury operators such as Fendi, Céline and Kenzo, as well as with major distribution groups such as Inditex, Fast Retailing, H&M and Mango, amongst others.

Urban Outfitters arrived in the Spanish market in May 2014, when it launched a subsidiary to manage its business in the country. That same year, the group opened the first store of its homonymous chain in the El Triangle shopping centre in Barcelona, where it replaced the home décor firm Habitat.

Two years after its first opening, the US company started to search for new locations both in the Catalan capital and in Madrid to open its first points of sale for Anthropologie and Free People, the other chain owned by Urban Outfitters. In the spring, rumours of the imminent closure of an operation were revived.

Anthropologie is the group’s largest division by turnover, ahead of Urban Outfitters itself. The female fashion chain closed 2017 with sales of $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion), up by 1.9%. That figure accounted for 39.4% of the group’s total revenues.

At the end of its last financial year (31 January 2018), the chain operated 226 stores in the USA, Canada and Europe. The company is immersed in an international expansion process, which includes an overseas growth strategy. For that reason, Anthropologie appointed Peter Ruis, the former director of Levi Strauss, as the senior director of the international business in July.

Original story: Eje Prime (by L. Molina and P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Núñez i Navarro Invests €25M in Site of Former Metalarte Factory to Build 80 Homes

19 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Núñez i Navarro has not forgotten about its land on the site of the former Metalarte factory. The property developer chaired by Josep Lluís Núñez is going to invest €25 million in the construction of a residential development in the Barcelona municipality of Sant Joan Despí.

The company is planning to build eighty homes, in total, with parking spaces and storerooms in the same property, which will be constructed between this autumn and 2021. 61 of the homes in the development will be private, whilst eleven will be social housing units and seven will be granted to the Town Hall of Sant Joan Despí by the Catalan company.

Núñez i Navarro acquired the former Metalarte factory in 2001. Almost twenty years later, the property developer is recovering the land to build its second residential project in the Barcelonan municipality. The company has just carried out a comprehensive renovation of the farmhouse where the Trias de Bes family used to spend its summer holidays to convert it into a school.

At the moment, the Núñez i Navarro group has twenty-three projects underway, corresponding to an investment of €250 million in Cataluña. Barcelona, Sabadell, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat and Sant Joan Despí are the cities chosen by this unlisted property developer to build 947 homes, two hotels, a co-working centre and 69 commercial premises or offices.

In fact, the company is one of the firms in the sector that has best overcome the crisis, with its low debt policy. Proof of that is the investment effort that it has undertaken in the Catalan region over the last five years, where it has disbursed almost €400 million.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Criteria Raises the Price of the Plots for Hard Rock Café Complex in Tarragona

8 October 2018 – El Confidencial

Criteria, the holding company of the investment companies owned by La Caixa, has increased the price of the plots on which Hard Rock Café Entertainment World is set to be built. The new leisure and casino complex is due to be constructed in Tarragona, next to Port Aventura. That is according to explanations provided by sources in the real estate sector to justify the delay in the project, formerly BCN World, which constitutes the largest foreign investment pending in Cataluña and which will involve the disbursement of €2 billion in total.

Criteria had closed an option to sell the land worth €110 million. But that was in December 2014. Now that Hard Rock Café, a multinational from the United States of America specialising in hotel and restaurant complexes linked to casinos, wants to exercise the option, Criteria is claiming that the real estate market has recovered in the last four years and so the price needs to be updated.

Sources at Criteria declined to comment but other sources in the real estate sector explained that a new due diligence process is being carried out to determine the magnitude of the price increase. The new price is expected to amount to around €140 million, a claim that has been rejected wholeheartedly by the Hard Rock Café, which alleges, and rightly so, that the delays incurred by the project (…) which now amount to more than three years, cannot be attributed to the company.

According to the original plan, the project should have been ready by 2015. But, partly due to the withdrawal of investments, and partly due to the political instability in Cataluña, the complex has suffered various delays.

Hard Rock Café is the only company that survived the bidding process for the gambling licences and is now the main party responsible for developing the complex. The forecast investment in Tarragona amounts to €2 billion for the construction of Hard Rock Entertainment World, which will have two hotels and 1,100 rooms, a shopping area with 75 shops – which will be operated by the British giant Value Retail, owner of Las Rozas and La Roca – and a 10,000 m2 casino. The project is expected to create more than 11,000 jobs and will be carried out in phases: the first amounting to €600 million.

When the initial investor withdrew, which was led by the businessman Enrique Bañuelos, La Generalitat subrogated the option to purchase the land, as a way of ensuring the continuity of the project. But that operation is neutral. La Generalitat would only perform a transfer and the final investor would have to pay the price of the plots. The Administration does not want to assume the surcharge that the new valuation would now result in.

Different positions

Each party defends its position. For Hard Rock Café, it cannot make its company or the other investors responsible for the delays incurred and therefore, does not want to assume the additional cost.

Meanwhile, Criteria has renewed the sale option, which had a term of 18 months, on up to four occasions to ensure that the investment would not go to waste, and considers that its efforts should also be rewarded.

An agreement must be reached between the parties soon (…). This project is key for Cataluña and will only serve to turn around the foreign investment figures that have been negative for the Catalan Administration since the independence process entered its critical phase.

Licence in May

In May 2018, Hard Rock Café obtained the licence for the project, which includes the gambling licence for the casino, granted by La Generalitat. That administrative permit arrived a year late due to the political instability in Cataluña. Now, Hard Rock Café, which is owned by a tribe of Seminole Indians (Florida) has three years to submit its plans. La Generalitat expects the building work to begin in 2019. The negotiations with Criteria could mean more delays if the positions fester, warn sources in the real estate sector.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Marcos Lamelas)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Tinsa: Madrid, Pamplona & Alicante Led Spain’s House Price Rises in Q3

1 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid, Pamplona and Alicante. Those three cities led the ranking in house price rises in Spain during the third quarter of 2018. The Spanish capital topped the podium with price rises in the residential market of 15.6%, although six other large cities in the country also recorded double-digit increases, according to data from the IMIE report compiled by Tinsa.

Along with the Spanish capital, Pamplona and  Alicante saw their house prices soar between June and September, with increases of 14.2% and 13.2%, respectively. Moreover, Palma (de Mallorca) continued to be one of the most expensive markets, after recording a price rise of 12.8% during the period. Meanwhile, in Málaga, house prices rose by 12.5%, Valencia recorded an increase of 12% and Murcia saw a rise of 11.1%.

The report reflects the boom in the provincial capitals, which were key drivers behind the 4.9% increase in new and second-hand house prices in Spain during the third quarter, to €1,317/m2.

With this new increase, house prices in Spain have been rising since the third quarter of 2016. Nevertheless, sources at Tinsa recall that “although the normalisation of the residential market is a general trend, there are still significant differences by region.

By autonomous region, Madrid is the region where house prices rose by the most in the last 12 months, with a rise of 13% in Q3. It was followed by La Rioja, with an increase of 11.8%; the Balearic Islands, with a rise of 9.9%; and Navarra, with growth of 8.7%.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

A Blow to Sevilla’s Retail Sector: Plans for Alcora Shopping Centre Cancelled

21 September 2018 – Eje Prime

Sevilla has lost one of its major post-crisis commercial projects. In the end, the Alcora shopping centre, promoted by Grupo Tremon, is not going to open its doors, even though its construction was announced in 2014 with a planned investment of €167 million, according to reports from Europa Press.

The plots on which the shopping centre was going to be constructed, which have a combined surface area of 23,000 m2, are located next to the headquarters of Canal Sur TV in San Juan de Aznalfarache. The plan envisaged by Grupo Tremon involved a 3-storey building plus two levels of underground parking with capacity for 1,300 vehicles.

In 2014, the plenary of the Sevillan town hall approved a modification to the urban regulations so that the work for the construction of the complex, located on the Aljarafe cornice, could be undertaken. The views over the Guadalquivir and Sevilla were going to take centre stage in Alcora, which envisaged a large square with a lookout over the Sevillan capital.

Tough competition

Nevertheless, the collapse of this commercial project contrasts with the good times that the commercial sector is experiencing in Sevilla. The imminent opening of Torre Sevilla (the fifth tallest building in Spain after the iconic Cuatro Torres in Madrid) by CaixaBank, will be followed in the spring by the Lagoh shopping centre, Grupo Lar’s big gamble in the Sevillan retail sector.

This latter complex (initially called Palmas Altas) is going to become the largest commercial space in the city, with a surface area of more than 100,000 m2. The investment in this project by Lar España will amount to €250 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake