Tag: urban

Urbania International Builds New Halls of Residence in City Centres

5 April 2018 – Inmodiario

The student hall subsidiary of Urbania International has a brand: Syllabus by Urbania. Under this name, the international property developer’s new firm is already acquiring and developing assets destined for student accommodation in major university cities, not only in Spain but also in other countries in Europe. The company is going to invest more than €200 million in the acquisition and development of these kinds of assets, with the aim of generating 4,000 beds over the next three years.

At the helm of Syllabus by Urbania is Jeffrey Sújar, who was appointed as CEO of the firm in March. According to Sújar, “the aim of Syllabus is to improve the existing student hall supply in the most attractive cities for students, in the best urban locations, creating high-quality spaces, with contemporary designs and a unique supply of services in the sector”.

Strategic alliance with “Mi Casa Inn”

With this in mind, Syllabus has already signed a strategic agreement with the specialist manager Mi Casa Inn for the operation of its properties. Mi Casa Inn (MCI) currently operates seven halls of residence, containing 500 beds, and is the leader and benchmark player in the urban hall segment focusing on international students, where it has been working for more than eight years.

Syllabus and Mi Casa Inn have already started to acquire assets with a flurry of activity in cities such as Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Málaga and Barcelona, amongst others, and currently have a portfolio of 1,500 beds under development. They plan to extend their activity to the main university cities in other European countries in the short term.

360º experience

Syllabus and MCI develop a concept that is very different from traditional halls of residence and colleges located on campus or close to universities. The aim of the company is to create spaces where students can live a 360º experience in the heart of cities, where they can mature and develop themselves individually. “It is a more contemporary version of the classic hall of residence”, says Jeffrey Sújar, “adapted to the lifestyle of international young people, giving them a high degree of independence to allow them to meet and live alongside students from very different countries and cultures”.

As such, we have chosen central, urban environments, “where it all happens” and where Syllabus will adapt and construct buildings in which students can live more of a co-living experience than that of a traditional boarder.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

RE/MAX: The RE Recovery Is Spreading Across Europe

12 June 2017 – El Mundo

The real estate market is growing, not only in Spain, but also in Europe, according to the Housing Report compiled by RE/MAX Europa. This improvement is being reflected in high levels of demand and rising prices, a trend that looks set to continue over the coming months in the property sector of the Old Continent. The good borrowing conditions and the incentives, especially for those buying their first home, are two of the main factors that are driving this growth.

Specifically, in Spain, house prices are stable, with potential for growth. “The increase in wages in Spain, the access to financing, as well as the political stability are posited as the most important factors for driving this upward trend in prices”, explain RE/MAX Europa.

Specifically, since 2015, the sales prices of family homes, as well as of flats and apartments, have increased by 4.5% on average in urban areas, where the average price per square metre has risen from €1,651/m2 to €1,727/m2. House prices in urban areas are expected to increase by 1.8% in 2017 and by 1% in the case of properties located in small towns.

And the picture is even more buoyant in the rental market. Prices per square metre have risen by 9.8% in the large cities and by 7.7% in small towns. In this way, the average monthly rental cost in a Spanish city amounts to around €800/month, whilst in the smaller towns, that figure stands at around €600/month.

The recovery of the real estate sector at the European level is based, above all, on low interest rates and, therefore, loans that are accessible to the public. This situation is “currently being seen in almost every country in Europe”, said the study. “That is resulting in higher demand, which is driving up prices in almost every segment and area”, it adds.

In Slovakia and Estonia, for example, thanks to these favourable conditions, there has been a significant increase in the construction of new homes, said RE/MAX Europa. In Malta, there has also been growth in the rental market, due to the rising number of overseas employees living on the island. Markets such as Portugal, Greece and Scotland “have been recovering really well over the last few years and are now showing clear signs of stable growth, with the prospect of more transactions in the future”.

Cities are improving

The experts at RE/MAX confirm that between 2015 and 2016, sales prices rose for apartments and family homes. In particular, prices per square metre rose significantly in the case of urban apartments, specifically, by 13% in certain cities in Lithuania, Germany and Luxembourg. The sales prices of houses in small towns also rose and are expected to increase by 4% in 2017 in Austria and Estonia. Nevertheless, prices are predicted to remain stable in France, Greece and Switzerland.

Rental prices also increased in 2016. Specifically, by 10% for urban apartments in The Netherlands, Romania and Spain, and by 16% in Malta. The experts at RE/MAX predict that rental prices will increase or remain stable in the majority of Europe during 2017.

One of the most important criteria in determining differences in prices is location. According to Michael Polzler, CEO of RE/MAX Europa, “the sales prices of apartments vary by 64%, depending on whether a property is located in an urban area or in a small town. For family homes, that difference amounts to 44%”.

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: House Sales In Balearics Rose By 32.8% In Nov 2016

16 January 2017 – Diario de Ibiza

House sales rose by 32.8% YoY in November in the Balearic Islands, as 1,258 operations were closed, representing the highest increase of all of the autonomous regions.

Of the homes sold, 1,234 were unsubsidised and 24 were protected (subsidised); meanwhile, 232 were new homes, compared with 1,026 second hand, according to data published on Thursday by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The total number of properties sold on the islands in November 2016 amounted to 4,208, up by 2.9% compared to the same month a year earlier.

Overall in Spain, house sales rose by 17.3% in November with respect to the same month in 2015, with 33,806 operations recorded in the property registries, to complete ten consecutive months of increases.

According to the data from INE, house sales grew by 15.1% between October and November 2016.

This monthly rate is 10.6 basis points higher than that registered during the same period a year ago, when the increase amounted to 4.5%, and is the highest monthly variation since 2012.

Second-hand homes

The increase in sales in November was due yet again to the second-hand market, which increased by 19.8% to reach 27,996 transactions, whereby accounting for 82.8% of the house sales registered.

The number of operations involving new homes also rose although to a lesser extent, by 6.8%. 90.3% of all homes sold were unsubsidised compared with just 9.7% that were protected (subsidised).

By autonomous region, the sale of homes grew by 32.8% YoY in the Balearic Islands; by 26.3% in the Canary Islands; and by 25.8% in Aragón, which saw the highest increases. By contrast, La Rioja, País Vasco and Galicia recorded the lowest increases.

In total, the number of properties (rural and urban) registered as sold in the property registries during the month of November stood at 143,470, up by 6.8% compared to the same month in 2015.

In the case of property sales recorded, the increase amounted to 15.6%.

Original story: Diario de Ibiza

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cajamar Puts 2,500 Homes Up For Sale With Discounts Of Up To 30%

21 December 2016 – Expansión

Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar has put more than 2,500 properties up for sale, with discounts of up to 30%. The assets are located all over Spain, including in major regional capitals, commuter cities and small towns, according to a press release issued by the entity yesterday.

This offer from the rural saving banks of the Cajamar group will be known as the ‘Christmas Campaign’ and the discounts will apply until 31 January 2017.

The supply includes both urban and coastal properties, as well as new builds and second-hand homes. Most of the properties are located in Andalucía (890) and the Community of Valencia (790), followed by Madrid (260), Murcia (160), Cataluña (140, 60 of which are located in Tarragona) and Castilla y León (140, 110 in Valladolid).

Doubtful debt rate

As at 30 September 2016, Cajamar’s doubtful debt rate stood at 13.77%. At the height of the crisis, it reached 17%, as a result of the entity’s absorption of Ruralcaja, without any public aid, making it the entity with the second highest rate in the sector in Spain. The doubtful debt rate of its property developer business amounted to 79.04%, well above the average for the sector (25%).

The total number of doubtful assets has decreased by 20.4% in the last year, particularly thanks to the sale of a batch of loans worth €328 million. The coverage ratio amounts to 47.62%. The entry of foreclosed assets onto the balance sheet has decreased by 12.61% in the last year and now amounts to €491 million in gross terms. Sales have increased by 35.62% to €257 million.

Cajamar has an agreement with Haya Real Estate to sell its properties to individuals.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Urbas’ Share Price Rises By 8% Boosted By H1 Results

19 September 2016 – Expansión

Urbas was one of the best performing companies on the stock market on Thursday. The share price of the real estate company, which has a strong presence in Madrid’s Corredor de Henares, rose by around 8% to €0.013 per share. The major catalyst for the increase was the fact that, during the first half of this year, the group left behind seven years of losses to record a consolidated net profit of €0.74 million.

The figure contrasts with losses of €4.7 million that it recorded in 2015. As at June, the net value of the group’s assets exceeded €415 million thanks to the reverse merger with Aldira Inversiones Inmobiliarias in 2015, which allowed it to strongly capitalise the company.

The strong increase in the share price of Urbas – which is constructing a hotel and resort in Cienfuegos (Cuba), which will consist of a marina, six golf courses, six 5-star hotels, three apart hotels, 1,500 villas and more than 3,000 apartments – is being accompanied by an unusual increase in trading volume.

More than 210 million shares have changed hands, a figure that significantly exceeds the average of just over 15 million during 2016.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

RTVE Seeks RE Agent To Help It Sell 32 Buildings For €85M

7 June 2016 – Voz Pópuli

Spain’s national broadcaster, Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), wants to sell 32 plots of land and properties, distributed across Spain, for which it hopes to obtain proceeds of €85.6 million. The corporation has launched a competition, with a budget of €3.1 million, which aims to find an estate agent in the market of these buildings, which in several cases are empty or offer services that could be carried out in another one of its work centres. The so-called “idle assets”.

The jewel in the crown of this package of public goods is the plot of land measuring 245,000 sqm that RTVE owns in the Madrilenian suburb of Las Rozas, which is valued at €49.3 million and which is currently used as the broadcasting centre for Radio 1 and Radio 5 MW. The corporation plans to move these facilities (including the antennae, which are approximately 200 metres tall) to a cheaper, less densely populated area, which would allow it to generate profits from this real estate operation.

The real estate portfolio that will go up for sale also includes the headquarters of Radio Nacional de España, located in Calle de Roc Boronat in Barcelona, and inaugurated in 2007, when Luis Fernández was President (of RTVE) and the PSOE was in Government in Moncloa. The idea is to transfer this media centre to TVE’s studios in Sant Cugat del Vallès – which will cost €3.5 million – and sell off the headquarters.

The Directors of the corporation want the estate agent who ends up being awarded the contract to take care of the necessary legal procedures to change the urban classification of this estate to obtain higher revenues from the operation, according to details specified in the competition tender document.

Buildings all over Spain

The list of properties that RTVE wants to get rid off also includes a 26,000 sqm plot of land in the Madrilenian suburb of Majadahonda (€5.3 million), a building on Calle de Colón in Valencia (€4.57 million), another on Calle de la Albareda in Zaragoza (€3.4 million) and another on Avenida Ranillas, also in the Aragonese capital, which has been valued at €4.57 million.

The following assets in the portfolio also have prices that exceed the one million euro threshold: the RNE headquarters in Valladolid (€1.02 million), the corporation’s facilities at the Edificio Venus in Murcia (€1.47 million) and the office in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (€1.46 million). The portfolio due to be sold also includes buildings and plots of land in Alicante, Mérida (Badajoz), Cádiz, Gerona, Granada, Jaén, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lérida, Monforte de Lemos (Lugo), Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Pontevedra (Vigo), Santander, Tarragona, Teruel and Talavera de la Reina (Toledo). (…).

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Rubén Arranz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: Mortgage Lending Rose By Just 7.1% In October

22 December 2015 – Cinco Días

The signing of new mortgages to purchase homes increased by just 7.1% YoY in October, down from 20.2% a month earlier, with 19,195 new mortgage loans constituted in total.

According to data published yesterday by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), the signing of mortgages decreased by 19.4% compared with the month of September, which affected the YoY statistics.

The total amount of mortgages granted to purchase homes in October amounted to €2,144.2 million, up by 18.7% compared with the same month in 2014 and down by 18% compared with the previous month.

Moreover, in October, 28,989 mortgages were signed for all kinds of properties, including both rural and urban buildings, up by almost 5% compared with a year earlier, but down by 19.5% compared with the previous month.

The amount of capital loaned by Spanish institutions to constitute these loans amounted to €4,040 million, 12.5% more than in October 2014 and 15.6% less than in September.

More than half of all of the mortgages constituted in October, specifically, 53.1%, involved homes, according to INE’s data, which also revealed that 90.3% of the loans had variable interest rates, versus 9.7% which had fixed interest rates.

Euribor was the preferred reference rate for the constitution of variable rate mortgages, specifically it was used in 92% of all new variable rate contracts. The average interest rate, at the beginning of the mortgage terms, for home loans was 3.30%, which was 8.2% lower than during the same period in 2014.

In total, changes to the conditions of 12,457 mortgages were recorded in the property registers, down by 18% compared with last year. For homes, the number of mortgages whose conditions were modified decreased by 19.4%. (…).

By autonomous region, the areas that recorded the highest number of new mortgage constitutions over homes in October were: Andalucía (3,551); Cataluña (3,138) and the Community of Madrid (3,033).

The autonomous regions that recorded the highest YoY rates of change were the Balearic Islands (61.8%), País Vasco (43.7%) and the Canary Islands (32.8%).

The autonomous regions that loaned the most capital for the constitution of mortgages over homes were the Community of Madrid (€513.0 million); Cataluña (€388.5 million) and Andalucía (€335.0 million).

The autonomous regions with the highest month on month positive rates of change in the number of home loan mortgages were La Rioja (19.1%); Murcia (12.1%) and the Canary Islands (9.7%).

Meanwhile, the autonomous regions that recorded the highest MoM decreases were the Community of Madrid (38.7%); Navarra (36.2%) and Aragón (30.4%).

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Offers More Than 3,500 Homes With Discounts Of Up To 50%

12 February 2015 – El Economista

Bankia has put more than 3,500 homes up for sale across Spain with discounts “in many cases” of up to 50%, which means that 80% of the homes to be offered by the entity until the end of March have an average price of less than €80,000.

The homes, all of which are second hand, are located in urban and coastal areas, ranging from large capital cities, to metropolitan areas and small towns, said Bankia in a statement.

Valencia is the autonomous region with the largest supply of housing, with more than 1,300 properties for sale, followed by Cataluña, with 800; more than 300 properties will be available in Castilla-La Mancha; 200 in the Canary Islands; and more than a hundred in other autonomous regions such as Madrid, Andalucía and Murcia.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Housing: 319,389 Homes Were Sold In 2014, Up By 2.2%

11 February 2015 – Expansión

After three years in decline, INE confirms that the residential sector is on the road to recovery. The greater increases in the number of transactions were recorded in the Balearic Islands (18.5%), Navarra (13.9%) and the Canary Islands (12%).

The National Institute of Statistics (el Instituto Nacional de Estadística or INE) confirmed yesterday that house sales have turned the corner around Cape Horn. The crisis is not behind us yet, by any means, but the sector has begun its long road to recovery, and that is the best news to come out of the property sector in over six years. Residential property transactions increased by 2.2% in 2014.

Last year, 319,389 homes were sold, compared with 312,600 in 2013 and 318,534 in 2012. This represented the first annual statistical increase since 2010, although that year was clearly affected by the termination of the tax relief for first home purchases for individuals earning more than €24,107, which caused numerous families to bring forward their house purchases so as not to miss out on the tax incentive of up to €1,350 per year.

“The year-end figure reflects a rise that, although timid, is a symptom of a significant change in the pace of operations. It is an encouraging piece of data that emphasises the stabilisation of the sector and it is based on the return of financial institutions to the field of finance and on the price adjustments undergone in the market”, said Manuel Gandarias, Head of Research at pisos.com.

In reality, 2014 was the first year since 2007 in which demand grew by itself, without tax incentives or other decisive policies. The worst years of the crisis for the property sector were 2008 and 2009, when residential sales decreased by -28.8% and -25.1%, respectively. In 2010, sales increased by 6.3%. The decline then slowed down gradually in 2011 (-18.1%), 2012 (-11.5%) and 2013 (-1.9%, when tax relief ended completely).

The expected upturn in purchases in due solely and exclusively to the strong sentiment in the second hand market, the real thermometer of the residential sector at a time when new homes are still somewhat mummified, in an over-inflated stock.

Sales of used homes increased to 199,943 in 2014, i.e. 18.4% more than a year earlier. Second hand homes now account for two out of every three transactions (62.6% of the total). These sales had increased by 3.8% in 2013.

Meanwhile, sales of new homes in 2014 amounted to 119,446 (down -6.9% with respect to 2013) and now accumulate four consecutive years of decline.

“This superiority of used homes over new builds is not only based on the larger volume and leeway afforded by the prices of such homes, it is also due to the scarcity of new developments and the effect caused when the banks dumped the new developments they held on their balance sheets, which effectively converted these properties into second hand homes for tax purposes”, said Gandarias.

The number of unsubsidised homes sold increased by 3.2% with respect to 2013, whilst the number of subsidised house sales decreased by 6.2%.

By autonomous region

The autonomous communities that experienced the greatest increases in the number of house sales in 2014 were the Balearic Islands (18.5%), Navarra (13.9%) and the Canary Islands (12%). The largest decreases were recorded in La Rioja (-25.1%), Castilla-La Mancha (-12.6%) and Murcia (-6.3%).

The regions that recorded the most transactions per 100,000 inhabitants in 2014 were Valencia (1,182), the Balearic Islands (1,043) and the Canary Islands (1,015).

83.0% of the sales recorded in 2014 related to urban properties and 17% to rural properties. In the case of urban properties, 55% corresponded to homes. Sales of rural properties increased by 7.3% and sales of urban properties rose by 0.9%. Within this second group, housing was the property type that experienced the highest growth.

The experts expect the improvement in house sales to extend into 2015. The 21st Edition of the Real Estate Heart Rate Monitor (la XXI edición del Pulsímetro Inmobiliario) published by the Institute of Business Practices (el Instituto de Práctica Empresarial or IPE) last week, forecasts that sales will grow by 7.5% this year.

According to the IPE, house prices will grow by 2.5% in 2015. In addition, mortgage lending will increase by 2.5% and the construction of new builds will grow by 7.5%.

Sales have already increased. Will prices rise too? We will know on 9 March, when INE publishes data abour the average house price at the end of 2014.

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake