Tag: return on investment

CBRE: Real Estate in Sevilla Attracts Funding from Overseas Investors

15 December 2018 – ABC

The city of Sevilla and its metropolitan area are now on the international real estate map and proof of that is that the major overseas funds are putting up a lot of the capital being absorbed by the new commercial, hotel and logistics projects in the city, “whereby taking over from the real estate firms of yesteryear”. That is one of the conclusions of a report compiled by the consultancy firm CBRE, which highlights that the return on investment has been felt most intensely in the shopping centre sector.

“With almost 300,000 m2 of future supply planned, Sevilla is the province in Spain that will grow by almost the most over the next few years in terms of gross leasable area – exceeded only by Madrid”, it said. “This will be a key sector this year and next for the Sevillan real estate market”, said Rosa Madrid, Director of CBRE in Andalucía. The first newsworthy event was the entry into operation of Torre Sevilla, “an open and mixed shopping centre, with a hotel and offices, which we have not seen here before and which is regenerating the area”, she highlighted. The office market “has absorbed without great problems” the 18,000 m2 that Torre Sevilla brought to the market “whereby disproving those who predicted a new crisis in this segment”, she said.

Offices

In the office segment, the highest rents are achieved in the most modern buildings of Nervión (a district in Sevilla), with rents of around €12-13/m2/month. In this area, some exclusive office buildings that were left vacant following the departure of the Junta de Andalucía to Santa Justa were occupied within 18 months. In La Cartuja, office rents are somewhat lower, around €9-11/m2/month, according to the report.

But, “the turning point” in the shopping centre sector is going to be seen Sevilla with Project Lagoh, promoted by the Socimi Lar España in the Palmas Altas area, to the south of the capital, and currently under construction. “Finally, the new era of shopping centres is going to arrive in Sevilla. Until now, we have only had shopping centres from the 1990s and none from the 21st century, like Xanadú in Madrid or Puerto Venecia in Zaragoza”, said Rosa Madrid.

Hotel investment

The hotel market has been also reactivated as demonstrated by the major operations closed in recent years. “In addition to the modern Eurostars Torre Sevilla, since 2015, the flow of properties acquired to transform them into accommodation has been continuous”, she highlighted. The most noteworthy operations include the purchase by the French real estate company Bouygues of the former headquarters of Abengoa, to renovate it and transform it into a 5-star hotel, the purchase of Hotel Macarena and the acquisition of the Generali building in Plaza Nueva by the British fund Shaftesbury.

Logistics market

Demand for logistics warehouses has also been increasing, at the same time as the major e-commerce operators have increased their logistics network in the south of the peninsula, such as the case of Amazon and Inditex, which have opened platforms in Sevilla. “That sector is here to stay. And operators are not only looking for large spaces far away from the cities measuring between 30,000 m2 and 100,000 m2, they are also looking for small spaces inside the SE30 to serve the last-mile market and demand for immediate distribution”, explained the regional director of CBRE.

Student halls

Investors specialising in alternative sectors, such as student halls of residence, are also placing their focus on Sevilla, a city that is home to 16% of all of Spain’s university students (…).

Original story: ABC (by E. Freire)

Translation: Carmel Drake

New Investment Formula: Buy-To-Let Cooperatives

5 March 2015 – Expansión

Investing in the Spanish real estate sector has been not only an option, but almost an obligation for large investors in recent years, both Spanish and international. But, what about small savers? Do they have any options left to fall back on?

Away from the real estate companies that are listed on the stock market, there is an investment proposal that involves buying homes to let them out. Nevertheless, this model has not been operated on a professional basis in the past. Now, the Spanish company Alquiler Seguro, which specialises in the management of rental contracts for both tenants and landlords, has decided to launch a cooperative project involving homes intended for rental, which are designed precisely for that purpose from the outset. “Last year, we realised that our most frequent transactions involved clients who were owners of some properties and at the same time, tenants of others”, explains Gustavo Rossi, Chairman of Alquiler Seguro. “A change is happening in the market, whereby young people, who are accessing housing through the rental market, are becoming good savers whilst also being tenants”, adds Antonio Carroza, CEO of the company.

The executives of Alquiler Seguro propose that these tenants use their savings to purchase homes, for an average price of €120,000, which offer investment returns after 18-24 months (the time taken to construct the properties). “These are homes that are designed to be rented out; they are expected to generate returns of between 3.5% and 6% and achieve an investment return within ten years”, says Carroza.

Currently, the company has two developments underway, both located in Madrid, in the neighbourhoods of Carabanchel and López de Hoyos. “We have chosen areas where there is demand from tenants and prices (of the properties) are affordable”.

Both developments offer financial support. “Our model is 50% equity and 50% bank financing. Entities are willing to subsidise some of the land purchase since the properties have (already) been sold to the cooperative members”.

“In the case of these two projects, each investor has acquired one home, but the goal is to move towards a model that does not involve horizontal divisions, but rather one in which many investors buy the whole development. We already have several plots of land in our portfolio that we intend to develop in this way”, says Rossi.

It is not the only buy-to-let investment project that the company is working on. “We are also evaluating the possibility of creating a Socimi, where investors contribute assets instead of capital but, at the moment, that is not a profitable model, due to the expenses associated with municipal gains”.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake