Tag: units

Aedas Revolutionises the Property Development Sector by Building 500 Turnkey Homes for Ares

12 April 2019 – El Confidencial

Aedas Homes has decided to launch a new line of business by building complete housing developments for other companies. In this way, the listed property developer hopes to generate value from its production over-capacity; it anticipates recording revenues of around €70 million from the initiative.

In this vein, the company led by David Martínez has reached an agreement with the fund Ares to build 500 homes in its name in three different locations: Torrejón de Ardoz, Alcalá de Henares and El Cañaveral (all in Madrid).

This is the largest turnkey project in the sector since the outbreak of the real estate crisis, a decade ago and as such, represents a real milestone.

The three largest listed property developers in Spain, Neinor, Aedas and Metrovacesa, are all living by the famous mantra “reinvent yourself or die”. As such, they are expanding their operations as they seek to actually generate the high turnover figures that they promised when they made their stock market debuts.

With this latest announcement, Aedas is sending a clear message to its competitors. It has over-capacity in its production model, which means that it can handle turnkey projects on a large scale, as well as deliver the roadmap that it is already committed to.

With the additional 500 homes from this project, Aedas Homes could end the year with more than 3,000 units launched, compared with the 2,580 initially planned for the year.

Meanwhile, Ares Capital is immersed in its commitment to the Spanish real estate market, with a particular focus on the residential segment, with homes both for sale and for rent.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: 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

Deutsche Bank, APG & CBRE GI Enter Spain’s Residential Rental Market

7 December 2018 – Expansión

The large international investors have placed their focus on the residential market and, specifically, on the rental segment. The success of this sector, together with labour mobility, the difficult access to housing and changes in living habits mean that, increasingly, renting is an option over buying in Spain, and that has fuelled interest from capital in the sector.

Blackstone, the largest real estate investor in Spain, was one of the first funds to back the residential rental sector with the purchase of 18 developments comprising 1,860 units from the Municipal Housing and Land Company of Madrid (EMVS) in 2013, but it has not been the only one. The Dutch pension fund APG, in conjunction with Renta Corporación; the German bank Deutsche Bank; and the international fund manager CBRE GI have been some of the most committed investors in this market in recent months.

In this way, APG reached an agreement in the spring of 2017 with the Catalan real estate company Renta Corporación to launch Vivenio, a Socimi specialising in housing, with the aim of acquiring assets worth €1 billion in Madrid, Barcelona and the provincial capitals. The Socimi is going to close a particularly active year for acquisitions, with a total investment of €400 million and is planning to repeat that amount in 2019 to reach a total portfolio of €1 billion in just over two years. One of the largest purchases it has made this year was the batch of 1,100 homes that belonged to the manager Aquila Capital, headquartered in Hamburg, for €240 million.

With the aim of diversifying its portfolio and entering this growing segment, the international fund manager CBRE GI joined forces with Azora, the Spanish manager founded by Concha Osácar and Fernando Gumuzio, with experience in this sector, and the New York investment firm Madison to invest €750 million over the next two or three years. That three-way alliance started with a portfolio of 65 buildings and a total of 6,458 homes and has the aim of reaching, at least, 10,000 units.

Another large investor that is betting heavily on the Spanish residential sector is DWS, the asset management subsidiary of the German bank Deutsche Bank, which has prepared a budget of €500 million to acquire between 1,000 and 2,000 homes in Spain. In that case, it is backing new build developments and it will do so through three formulae: delegated development, the acquisition of construction projects from other property developers and direct development. The objective is to maintain the assets in its portfolio and rent them out. In that case, the vehicle will not be a Socimi because German regulation of the funds from which the capital proceeds do not allow that. 60% of the investment will be made with own funds and the rest, bank financing. The plan is to invest primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, but they will also study plots in cities such as Bilbao and Sevilla, provided the rental market is very liquid.

Meanwhile, Catella Asset Management Iberia (CAMI), the Spanish subsidiary of the Swedish fund manager is intending to reach 2,000 units by 2020. The manager, which will add 1,000 homes to its portfolio at the beginning of 2019, entered the residential rental market two and a half years ago and has invested around €160 million in the business to date. It plans to double that figure to reach 2,000 homes within two years.

Another real estate company that has teamed up with foreign funds to grow in this segment has been Elix. The firm, which is dedicated to the purchase of buildings, their renovation and the sale of homes by unit, has signed an alliance with KKR and Altamar to invest in buildings, renovate them and dedicate them to the rental market. Its aim is to invest €200 million in Madrid and Barcelona through the Socimi Elix Vintage.

Finally, Redevco has created a new fund to invest €500 million in residential projects in several European markets, including Spain (…). Redevco is planning to build a pan-European residential portfolio comprising approximately 2,500 units.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo & Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Metrovacesa to Invest €40M in the Construction of 180 New Homes in Córdoba

27 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Metrovacesa has already set up its first cranes in Córdoba. The Spanish property developer has started work on the Las Terrazas de Poniente Sur Residential complex, the first in a series of three projects that the company has underway in the city. In total, the real estate firm is going to build more than 180 homes, with an investment of €40 million in the capital of the Andalucian province.

The company is going to build 120 homes in its first development in Córdoba. On that site, located in the Parque Cruz Conde neighbourhood, the company is going to build flats with between one and five bedrooms, in a building comprising a ground floor and six upper floors. In the common areas, the development will have an outdoor swimming pool, a padel court, a garden and a children’s playground.

Metrovacesa’s commitment to the Andalucían city reflects the fact that Córdoba is “one of the Spanish cities with the highest demand for residential properties at the moment”, said the property developer in a statement.

Besides the Las Terrazas de Poniente Sur Residential development, the company is already marketing Villas de Alhakén, a development comprising 21 single-family homes in the El Brillante neighbourhood. Meanwhile, it is finalising matters to obtain the urban planning licence for Mirador de la Albaida, a residential development comprising forty homes, which will have views of the mountains in Córdoba.

Commitment to Andalucía 

The start of the work in Córdoba is strengthening Metrovacesa’s commitment to Andalucía, where 45% of the company’s land portfolio is located. In Eastern Andalucía alone, the property developer has land on which to build 6,000 homes, of which 4,000 units will be promoted along the Costa del Sol.

The objective of the property developer over the medium term is to generate revenues of €1 billion by 2020, and to increase that figure to €1.5 billion over the following years, according to sources speaking to EjePrime.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes has a Landbank Covering 4+ years of Visibility

8 October 2018 – Nasdaq

Aedas Homes, a leading property developer in the new real estate cycle in Spain, already has enough land in its portfolio to cover deliveries until 2022, as well as a significant part of 2023, thereby confirming the delivery targets set out in its IPO prospectus. The company’s landbank (close to 90% is classified as ready-to-build) will allow it to develop up to 14,521 homes in Spain’s key residential markets and is considered by analysts to be the best in the country.

So far in 2018, the publicly traded company, with CEO David Martínez at the helm, has completed the construction of 222 homes scheduled for delivery this year, 190 of which have already been sold.  As of August 31, the company had 6,287 active units, 55% more than in December 2017, and of those, 1,623 were already under construction. These figures reflect the strength of the property developer’s operating capacity during its first year.

In 2019, the developer plans to deliver almost five times as many homes, with a delivery target of 1,055 residential units; 1,071 homes are currently under construction and 761 have been sold. In 2020, Aedas Homes will deliver 1,986 homes and reach its cruising speed in terms of launches (3,000). The plan for 2021 is to deliver 2,438 homes and begin 2,471 new projects. 2022 will mark the moment when the developer reaches its cruising speed in terms of deliveries, with plans to put 3,063 homes in the hands of customers and launch another 3,000. In 2023, the number of homes being delivered will reach 3,326.

Martínez highlighted the company’s strict compliance with the goals announced at its IPO, noting that the company returned a profit one year ahead of schedule. Specifically, the property developer earned €3.7 million during the first half of 2018, making it the first of the new large developers in Spain to become profitable, and doing so only eight months after being listed on the Madrid stock market.

“We designed a realistic business plan, meaning that we will reach our targets in the coming years: by 2020, for example, we will have delivered more than 3,200 homes. Right now, we have almost 6,300 active units across 117 developments which gives us the visibility we need in terms of our objectives,” Martínez explained.

About Aedas Homes

The property developer Aedas Homes became a listed company on 20 October 2017 in Madrid, with a market capitalization of over €1.5 billion. Aedas is an industry leader at the national level and aims to play an important role in the new cycle of the Spanish real estate sector, which must be marked by professionalism and an adherence to rigorous standards.

Aedas Homes has a fully permitted residential landbank with more than 1.5 million buildable square metres (the highest quality landbank in Spain, according to analysts). This will permit the development of 14,500 residential units in the key markets, and their surrounding areas (both in terms of real estate and finance) where Aedas operates: the Centre, Cataluña, the East & Mallorca, Andalucía and the Costa del Sol.

Original story: Nasdaq 

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Aelca Invests €80M in Land in H1 & Will Hand Over 800 Homes in 2018

31 July 2018 – El Mundo

Aelca has closed the first half of the year with a good set of result. The property developer, founded by José Juan Martín and Javier Gómez, generated revenues of €54.6 million between January and June and profits of €10.65 million.

Moreover, it has already sold 99% of the homes that it plans to hand over this year, 800 units in total, worth €170.28 million.

In addition, the company has already pre-sold 78% of the units that it is scheduled to hand over in 2019, which amount to 1,185. During the first half of the year, the property developer has continued with its land purchase policy to enable it to continue building new residential developments in different parts of Spain. Thus, during the first half of 2018, it invested €80 million on the acquisition of land, so that its capacity to build currently amounts to 13,965 homes.

Aelca is consolidating its role as one of the property developers created in the heat of the resurgence of real estate activity. At the moment, the company has 2,375 homes that are work in progress.

Original story: El Mundo 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Kronos Finalises €400M Investment in Cataluña with Land Purchases in Gavá & Sant Cugat

1 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Kronos Homes wants to be a leading player in the Catalan residential market. The Spanish property developer has just completed the purchase of two plots in Gavá and Sant Cugat del Vallés. These two operations form part of the significant investment plan that the company has initiated in Cataluña, where it already has investments amounting to €400 million. “The objective is to close at least two more operations in Cataluña before the end of 2018”, explained Manuel Holgado, Partner at the real estate firm, speaking to Eje Prime.

The first of the acquired plots, in Gavá, has a surface area of approximately 173,500 m2, with capacity for the construction of 1,500 homes. The company plans to start marketing this project within two years.

In the case of the plot in Sant Cugat, it is located in the centre of the prime Barcelona city and spans 33,800 m2, on which 320 homes are going to be built. These more than 1,800 homes will be added to the 900 units that the firm currently has underway in four other projects.

Two of those projects are located in Tarragona, a province in the south of Cataluña, with one development in the provincial capital and one in Calafell. Both will start to be marketed this June and the property developer, founded in 2014 by Saïd Hejal, has taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the Madrid Real Estate Fair (SIMA) to unveil the two developments.

The investment by Kronos is Cataluña is going to continue to increase over the coming months and Holgado says that “we would like to close at least two more operations before the end of 2018”. The company’s Director General, Majda Labied, also points out that “we have just opened an office in the centre of Barcelona, which strengthens our 100% commitment to Cataluña”.

Currently, the property developer has two promotions in the province of Barcelona, namely H20 and O12, two residential projects with an innovative design, which are located in the maritime area of Badalona. The first promotion has 252 homes with 25 different types of homes.

Entry into the Costa Brava

Having entered Barcelona and Tarragona, Kronos now only has Girona and Lleida left to conquer. The Costa Brava is one area “where we have been working actively for a while”, explains Holgado, although the property developer has not yet found the right opportunity to start a project there.

The forecast by Kronos Homes for the next four years involves it doubling the number of homes underway in Cataluña at the moment. The real estate firm also has a presence in Madrid, the Costa del Sol, Andalucía and Levante, and wants to branch out into new markets over the next few years. Areas such as Euskadi, for example, have always been on the company’s radar. The firm is keen to invest and position itself as one of the leading property developers in Spain.

Investment of €500 million in land all over Spain 

To build homes, you need land and, to that end, Kronos is going to invest €500 million between now and 2021 in the purchase of primarily residential land. The company will thereby acquire sufficient land to build 8,000 homes all over the country.

With a land bank spanning more than 1 million m2, spread between Madrid, Cataluña, Costa del Sol and Alicante, the intention of Hejal and the other shareholders that support him, including, in addition to Holgado and Labied, Ignacio Ocejo and Enrique Feduchy, is to expand the business to more Spanish provinces. The firm is currently making headway in the provinces of Córdoba, Sevilla and Cádiz, amongst others.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Homes Buys “Non-Finalist” Land for €194M

9 May 2018 – Expansión 

Despite recording losses of €8 million during the first quarter of the year, the property developer is maintaining its objective of closing the year in profit.

Neinor Homes closed the first quarter of the year flat in financial terms, with sales of €19 million and net losses of €7.9 million, but it is preparing to crank up the pace with the handover of 1,000 homes during the course of the year, primarily during the last six months, which will allow it to close the year in the black.

Moreover, in order to maintain the pace of deliveries from 2022 onwards, the firm has closed agreements to purchase “non-finalist land” (plots without building permits) for €194 million, on which it will be able to build 1,400 homes. “This land has very advanced planning in place and is without risk. The payment will only be made for these plots if all of the licences are granted within the planned timeframe”, explained Neinor.

These purchase agreements follow the €7.5 million invested in three finalist plots acquired during the first quarter of the year for another 120 homes. With these plots, the firm now owns a portfolio of land with capacity for 14,000 homes. In terms of Capex, Neinor is planning to spend €430 million on its construction projects, which implies 1% less than budgeted.

The property developer’s CEO, Juan Velayos (pictured above), says that this year is going to be “significant” in terms of revenues and he adds that, of the 1,000 home handovers scheduled for 2018, 90% have already been pre-sold. “The rest, which are the best units, will be sold once they have been handed over”, he said.

Pre-sales

Following the punishment from analysts in February, when Neinor announced a reduction in its delivery targets to 1,000 units in 2018 compared with 1,374 planned initially and to 2,000 in 2019 from 3,000 planned originally, the property developer now wants to reassure the market. It confirmed that the 31 developments that are going to be handed over in 2019 are already underway and have received their licences. “We have very high visibility over our revenues”, added the director. Specifically, Neinor’s order book includes almost 2,500 pre-sold homes, which corresponds to sales of around €828 million.

Velayos said that, with the projects underway, the company is going to reverse the weight of the different businesses and revenues will now be generated by the delivery of homes.

Neinor’s shares (…) ended trading yesterday down by 2.31% to €16 per share.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmila Buys Gran Vía de Hortaleza Shopping Centre in Madrid from Klépierre

5 February 2018 – Eje Prime

Carrefour is expanding its project to increase the value of the shopping centres adjacent to its hypermarkets in Spain. Carmila, the management vehicle created by the French food group, has paid €212 million for a portfolio of two complexes, including the Gran Vía de Hortaleza shopping centre in Madrid. The other asset acquired by the company is the Gran Vitrolles shopping centre, located in Marseille (France).

Gran Via de Hortaleza was opened in 1992 and is located in the northeast of the Spanish capital. The complex spans two floors and is home to a Carrefour hypermarket measuring 10,950 m2, ranked as one of the brand’s five largest stores in Spain. Moreover, Gran Vía de Hortaleza has 69 stores spread over a surface area of 6,300 m2 and outdoor space for 1,700 parking spaces.

Each year, the centre receives 6.3 million visitors and it has a penetration rate of 54% in the area in which it is located, according to Business Inmo. Companies that have a store in Gran Vía de Hortaleza include Mango, Promod, Okaidi, Calzedonia, Primor, Fosco, Rodilla, 100 Montaditos, Alain Afflelou and Burger King, amongst others.

Carmila’s objective with this shopping centre is to renovate it and convert it into a “family space”, as reported by the company, which is seeking, amongst other aspects, to improve the occupancy rate of the complex from its current value of 92.7%.

The other shopping centre acquired by Carrefour’s real estate manager is Grand Vitrolles. Located in Marseille, it is a large retail complex with 84 stores spread over a surface area of 24,530 m2 and a Carrefour hypermarket measuring 20,500 m2.

Outside, that shopping centre has parking with capacity for 4,709 vehicles. Carmila will expand the complex by 11,700 m2 to increase the number of stores to 130 units.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Large Property Developers Handed Over Just 3,000 Homes in 2017

2 February 2018 – Expansión

Market / The property developers Amenabar, Aelca and Corp take the lead in the race to notarise new homes.

The property developers have returned to the forefront after years of ostracism. In this way, two companies, Neinor and Aedas, debuted on the stock market in 2017, putting an end to the 10-year drought. Meanwhile, a historical company in the sector, Metrovacesa, is planning its stock market debut for Monday (5 February), and is waiting to close the requests book.

These companies, together with the other large property developers such as Vía Célere, Aelca and Habitat (all three of which are controlled by investment funds) have set themselves the objective of handing over between 3,000 and 4,000 homes per year, something that they will achieve over the next 2-4 years. Nevertheless, for the year just ended (2017), the figures recorded were much more modest.

According to data facilitated by the companies, the 13 largest residential property developers notarised an average of 270 new homes each last year. Together, they handed over just 3,168 units, compared with the more than 77,500 newly-built homes that were sold (according to data as at November from INE).

Amenabar is the leader of the ranking for the number of homes handed over. The property developer owned by the Amenabar family closed 2017 with 752 homes notarised. This year, that company, which is headquartered in Zarautz plans to start work on around 3,094 homes and to sell 4,087 units.

Of those properties for sale, approximately half correspond to land in the portfolio and the rest to new purchases to be made over the coming months, say sources at the company.

With almost 500 units each, Aelca and Corp Promotor complete the top three firms in terms of the number of homes notarised, with 498 and 496, respectively. Founded in 2012 by José Juan Martín and Javier Gómez, and controlled by Värde Partners (75% stake), Aelca is one of the new real estate companies and it has a more advanced pace of work. In this way, it plans to launch almost 4,000 homes across almost 50 new developments during 2018. In 2017, Aelca sold 1,128 homes.

Meanwhile, with 360 flats registered, Gestilar also stands out. The Madrilenian company created by Javier García-Valcárcel closed sale and purchase or pre-reservation contracts for another 419 homes in 2017, up by 57% compared to 2016. The company controlled by its founder does not have any immediate plans to debut on the stock market. Nevertheless, it has closed an alliance with one of Morgan Stanley’s investment funds to boost its plans to buy land and subsequently develop it.

Neinor

With a figure of more than 300 units (between 310 and 315, according to the latest estimates from the company), Neinor Homes has accelerated its house building plans to fulfil its business plan, which aims to put between 3,500 and 4,000 homes per year on the market between now and 2020.

Those hand overs will allow Neinor to increase its revenues, which, during the first half of last year, amounted to €127 million, after the hand over of 150 units.

It was followed by Inbisa, with 223 notarisations, and Vía Célere, with 183. The real estate firm led by Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado handed over two developments in Madrid and part of a third on c/Aragó in Barcelona, its first project in the Catalan capital.

In the absence of year-end data, during the first three quarters of last year, Realia handed over 80 homes amounting to €16.9 million (around €212,000 per unit), compared with 69 and €13.4 million in the previous year.

Less than ten each

Finally, three of the largest domestic property developers are operating at a  much slower rate. Such is the case of Quabit, which notarised just six homes in 2017, although it is expected to reverse that situation this year, after closing new land purchases, including co-investment alliances with the fund Avenue Capital. In this way, it plans to hand over 215 units in 2018, corresponding to four developments in Boadilla, Barcelona and Guadalajara, and also start work on around 2,000 new homes, confirms the company.

In the case of Habitat, the company did not notarise any homes in 2017, a year that was marked by its own sale, formalised by Bain Capital Credit just a few weeks ago. Now, the fund is working to boost the company, which is planning to hand over its first homes in 2018, of the more than 1,000 that it has up for sale.

The same thing is happening with Aedas. Launched in 2016, the company controlled by the fund Castlelake plans to hand over its first 231 homes this year.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake