Blackstone Fails to Sell Portfolio of More Than 1,000 Homes

16 September 2019 – The US-based investment giant Blackstone has cancelled the sale of a portfolio of more than 1,000 un-subsidised rental flats in Barcelona and Madrid. The financial services firm had been asking for approximately 180 million euros for the asset. Market sources see the cancellation as a confirmation that the market is softening due to political uncertainty, regulatory changes and a cooling economy. Blackstone now reportedly plans to sell the properties off piecemeal, much as it did with its proposed sale of three subsidised apartment blocks to Vivenio.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

 

Rental Housing Suffers as Demand Swells Amidst Falling Supply

16 September 2019 – The supply of homes for rent has fallen over the last year, even as demand is increasing, placing upward pressure on prices and sparking furious debate within Spain. Arguments are raging in the media and political circles, with a rising number of people criticising socimis, investment funds and short-term rental operators like Airbnb.

According to a study by the real estate website Fotocasa, the supply of homes for rent on the market fell by 27% in the last year.  At the same time, there was a 56% increase in demand, leading to a search for the basis of the market changes.

However, the criticism leveled at investment funds and Airbnb seem to be unfounded. According to the Ministry of Development, the total stock of rental housing exceeds 2.3 million residences. The market share in the hands of large investors, however, is  just under 3% of the market, or about 115,000 homes.

Short-term real estate operators like Airbnb and its ilk also seem to be taking an unfair amount of blame.  Unlike in neighbouring Lisbon, Portugal, these operators only control about 4% of the total stock of such real estate in Barcelona, 0.8% in Madrid and 1.2% in Palma de Mallorca.

Original Story: Libre Mercado – Diego Sánchez de la Cruz

Photo: Europa Press

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

AEW Invests in Residential Rental Market in Barcelona

10 July 2019

The flood of money that led to a spike in prices for rental housing in Madrid has now reached Barcelona. The German firm AEW has just purchased a building at Via Augusta 59 in Barcelona for an undisclosed amount. The company previously announced that it was looking to begin operations in Spain’s residential housing market.

The property is mixed-use, residential and commercial, and is located in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, just 500 meters from Avinguda Diagonal, Barcelona’s main thoroughfare. The building is located next to the Gràcia metro stop, in a sought-after area.

The Edificio Mercurio, as it is known, has about 11,500 square meters of surface area. Eurostone, which had acquired the asset two years before, had begun major renovations which will result in a total of 91 flats on nine floors, along with three commercial premises.

Original Story: El Confidencial – E. Sanz

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Vivenio Socimi Set to Acquire Plot of Land from Atlético Madrid

1 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

Vivenio seems to have beat out Stoneweg at the last moment in the race to acquire a plot of land on sale by Atlético Madrid. For weeks, Azora has been known as the likely buyer for two other plots of land, with a total of 40,5000 m2. The plots, known as RC7 and RC8, have views of the Manzanares River.

A third plot of land, RC4, was still up for grabs and the developer Stonweg was leading the race to acquire the land. Vivenio, a socimi owned by APG and the Renta Corporación increased their offer at the last moment. Atlético expects to make a final decision this week, with closing expected shortly thereafter.

The sale of the three plots of land is expected to bring in roughly 180 million euros to Atlético’s coffers. Vivenio is likely to develop residential housing for rent on its parcel, which has a total buildable surface area of 28,481 square meters.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Redevco on the Hunt for Mixed-Use Buildings to Join the Rental Housing Bandwagon

3 June 2019 – El Confidencial

A few months ago, Redevco, one of the largest players in the commercial real estate sector in Europe, announced the launch of a €500 million fund aimed at creating a pan-European portfolio of 2,500 rental homes. The aim is to focus primarily on the Netherlands and Germany, but with Spain and the UK accounting for a significant share.

In Spain, the company is now analysing various operations with the aim of closing one or more during the second half of this year. The shopping centre specialist is considering all kinds of strategies, from acquiring properties already for rent to teaming up with property developers and buying assets to renovate.

It is mainly focusing on mixed-used properties in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, with an average investment volume of around €20 million per asset. Its aim is to acquire entire properties, rather than small or dispersed assets and it is looking for two-bedroom homes with an average monthly rent of €1,000.

In Spain, Redevco’s commercial portfolio comprises 32 properties worth €800 million. It also operates a joint venture with Ares to invest €500 million in shopping centres, which currently owns the Mercado de San Miguel and Parque Corredor, both in Madrid.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Stoneweg is the Favourite to Acquire Atlético de Madrid’s 3rd Plot in Operación Calderón

31 May 2019 – El Economista

Earlier this week, it was announced that Azora, one of the largest rental home managers in the country, is set to buy two of the three plots that Atlético de Madrid has up for sale as part of Operación Calderón. Now, it has been revealed that the favourite in the running to acquire the third plot is the real estate firm Stoneweg, founded by Jaume Sabater and Joaquín Castellví.

Stoneweg will reportedly team up with a partner for the operation and will to dedicate the plot to rental homes. These types of projects are gaining weight in the capital in light of the high demand in the market, which has caused prices in some areas to soar. In fact, Azora is also planning to dedicate some of its two plots to rental housing.

Stoneweg is an expert in the rental home market with a portfolio of 10,000 rental units in the USA. In Spain, the firm operates through Stoneweg Living and has 10 developments in Barcelona, 9 in Madrid and 7 in various locations along the coast.

It is understood that Atlético de Madrid wants to complete the sale of all three plots before the end of June, as the club’s year-end is 30 June. The proceeds will represent a significant capital injection, which will allow AM to pay off some of its debt and buy more players over the summer.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

TPG, Round Capital & Ares Enter Final Round of Bidding for Témpore

12 March 2019 – El Independiente

Sareb has reactivated the sale of its Socimi Témpore Properties and the funds TPG, Round Capital and Ares are some of the candidates in the final round of bidding.

The bad bank was close to signing the transaction last year but called it off due to a lack of transparency. Then, it was the US investment fund TPG, shareholder of companies such as Spotify, Airbnb and Burger King, who was the likely buyer of Témpore, which manages 2,249 residential homes worth €338 million.

Now, TPG is back in the final round of the new process, this time against two opponents. The real estate fund Round Hill already has a presence in Spain – just a few weeks ago it launched a joint venture with the fund KKR and the logistics firm Pulsar Properties to buy logistics platforms. Meanwhile, the US fund Ares has also starred in several transactions in Spain, particularly in conjunction with the Dutch real estate firm Redevco.

Témpore closed 2018 with a loss of €384,394, but is forecast to generate profits from 2020. Its portfolio of residential assets, which is managed by Azora, generated rental income of €7.3 million last year. Moreover, 80% of its assets are located in the metropolitan areas of major capitals and the rest are in areas with significant rental demand, such as Valencia, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Málaga and Almería.

Original story: El Independiente (by Ana Antón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Ares Creates a Socimi to Invest up to €1bn in Rental Housing in Madrid

7 March 2019 – Idealista

The US fund Ares Management is creating a Socimi to invest up to €1 billion in residential assets for rental in Madrid. The firm wants to benefit from the boom in the rental market in Spain and has already raised €250 million to invest.

Ares first expressed its interest in the market last year when it submitted a bid to acquire Sareb’s rental home Socimi, Témpore. However, that operation was called off by the bad bank in favour of a more orderly sales process (now underway).

Ares is a listed company, founded in 1997, which manages alternative assets worth around USD 88 billion. It has 15 offices in the USA, Europe and Asia.

Original story: Idealista (by C. Pareja & P. Martínez-Almeida)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Cevasa Tripled its Profits YoY to €46.6M in 2018

28 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Cevasa’s profits soared in 2018. The company closed last year with a net profit of €46.6 million, multiplying its result from the previous year three-fold when it amounted to €15.5 million. In terms of revenues, they remained stable, with a slight increase of 8.4% to reach €15.8 million by December 2018.

The company’s operating result amounted to €61 million at the end of last year, an exponential increase with respect to the previous year, when it amounted to €17.5 million.

The company, whose full name is Compañía Española de Viviendas en Alquiler (the Spanish Company for Rental Housing) is dedicated to the private development of social housing units for rental. It currently has thirty housing developments underway, located primarily in Barcelona and the surrounding area.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

The PSPV Proposes a Housing Plan to Mobilise 4,500 Rental Homes in Valencia

23 February 2019 – Valencia Plaza

The socialist candidate for the Mayor of Valencia, Sandra Gómez (pictured below, left), has proposed a comprehensive housing plan for the city that would mobilise 4,500 homes, through new social housing units (VPO) and empty homes enabled for rental (…).

In a recent speech, the candidate for mayor explained that the plan to mobilise 4,500 homes includes empty homes. “Thanks to the Generalitat’s courage, we are going to have a map with which to operate to identify the large owners of homes, those who own more than ten empty properties”. With this, the socialists propose “an increase in the IBI charge for those empty homes that are not included in the rental market”.

In addition, to achieve the objective of this plan, they will demand “the maximum possible social housing in the city’s new developments, as we are already doing with developments such as Benimaclet, where 30% of the new builds will be VPO” (…).

And, as a third axis, Gómez has proposed that the administration “acts to promote the park of affordable housing that the city of Valencia currently lacks”. She recalled that there are initiatives such as the 300 public homes, being promoted by Aumsa and “the more than 1,000 that are going to be promoted by mobilising land from SEPE, as agreed with the Government of Spain this week. Nevertheless, the Town Hall has to do more” (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza 

Translation: Carmel Drake