Blog post copyrighted © 2018. Plagiarism will be criminally prosecuted. By Raymundo Larraín Nesbitt Director of Larraín Nesbitt Lawyers 25th of April 2018 Since the floodgates to devolved competencies were open by the government in 2013, which I heavily criticized (more…) The post Palma de Mallorca to ban holiday rentals and Airbnb to share landlord information with Spanish tax authorities appeared first on Spanish Property Insight. Source:: Spanish Property Insight

24 April 2018 – El Confidencial Aena has fired the starting gun for the largest real estate development plan in Spain, equivalent to four times Operación Chamartín or ten times the Retiro Park. It is the Real Estate Plan for the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, which will involve a combined public-private investment of €2.997 billion. This project, which Aena has been working on since before its stock market debut, proposes the development of 562 hectares of new land, which would allow it to place a buildable surface area of 2.68 million m2 on the market over the next 40 years. The bulk of the land will be allocated to the development of the largest logistics centre in Spain, which will link the airport’s current cargo loading area with the Corredor del Henares, one of the main logistics regions in the country. The land allocated to this use will span 257 hectares in total and 1.48 million m2 of buildable surface area, most of which will be developed over the next eight years, and which will mean multiplying the space in the airport dedicated to this use by ten-fold. The rapid growth of e-commerce and the need from giants such as […]

24 April 2018 – El País From July onwards, homeowners in Palma, on the Balearic Island of Mallorca, will not be allowed to rent out their apartments to tourists. The capital of the popular Mediterranean destination has adopted a pioneering measure, which will see the definitive prohibition of tourist flats right across the city. The local government team – a leftist alliance between the Socialist Party (PSOE), the local group Més per Mallorca and the anti-austerity Podemos – has taken this decision after commissioning several studies on the matter, which revealed that the supply of unlicensed tourist flats increased by 50% between 2015 and 2017 to reach 20,000 beds across the city. In Palma, which is Spain’s eighth-largest city by population, only 645 properties used for short-term vacation rentals have proper licenses. The government team will approve initial holiday rental zoning plans at a meeting on Thursday, which will then be subjected to public scrutiny before being put to a final vote at a council session in July. At that point, tourists seeking this kind of accommodation will no longer be allowed to rent apartments in multi-family residential housing. Instead, they will only be able to stay in detached, single-family […]

24 April 2018 – Eje Prime Quabit is looking to the future and is organising its business to respond to the new trends in the residential market. The company, chaired by Félix Abánades, has started to create a new corporate network under the activity of freehold properties, a business concept that is used for asset management with ownership rights. The constitution of these companies comes in response to “the evolution of the market and the importance of businesses such as the rental market”, according to explanations provided by Quabit to Eje Prime. Specifically, the property developer has recently created four companies: Quabit Freehold Properties, Quabit Freehold Properties Levante, Quabit Freehold Properties Centro and Quabit Freehold Properties Sur, whereby covering a large proportion of the Spanish peninsula. All of the companies have their registered addresses at number 1 Calle Capitán Haya in Madrid, which is also home to Quabit’s headquarters. In this way, the company is getting its business ready to meet the needs of new generations, who see renting as a more feasible option. These types of companies may also be the seed of a future Quabit Socimi, although sources at the company say that this option has been “parked” […]

24 April 2018 – Eje Prime Madrid and Barcelona are the kings of Spain and their crowns attest to that fact. The two largest cities in the country are surrounded by three rings that, in addition to accounting for most of the country’s logistics traffic, provide clear answers to the three main questions being asked in the sector: what, how many and how are products demanded. The first ring is a testament to the strength of last mile delivery driven by e-commerce; in the second ring, a large proportion of products are stored on rotation; however, the third ring, where the largest warehouses are located, saw the most space leased last year. In general terms, 2017 was a record year for the logistics markets in Madrid and Barcelona. Together, both cities signed rental operations for space spanning more than 1.2 million m2, which represented an increase of 12% with respect to the figure from the previous year and the best result in the last decade, according to the Logistics – The revolution of a booming market report, compiled by the consultancy firm JLL. The reasons for this boom in terms of transport and storage stem from the strong performance of […]

23 April 2018 – La Vanguardia Last year, Spain led the sale of defaulted mortgage portfolios in Europe, with the sale of loans with a nominal value of €50.758 billion (of the €104.0 billion that were sold in Europe in total), according to a study on problematic real estate debt compiled by the consultancy firm Evercore. In 2017, Santander, with the sale of Popular’s property to Blackstone for €30 billion, and BBVA, with the sale of a portfolio worth €13 billion to Cerberus, were ranked amongst the top five vendors in Europe. “It is likely that we will be leaders in the sale of foreclosed properties and defaulted mortgages again this year and next”, says Íñigo Laspiur, Director of Corporate Finance at the consultancy firm CBRE. “At the moment, portfolios worth more than €8 billion are up for sale in the market”. During the first few years of the financial crisis, it was entities in Ireland and the United Kingdom that led the sale of foreclosed real estate assets in Europe, but now the Spanish and Italian banks have taken over the baton (the latter led the ranking for the first quarter of this year). “Regulation by the ECB, which […]

23 April 2018 – Valencia Plaza Blackstone has submitted to Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV) its request for authorisation for the takeover bid that it has launched over the Socimi Hispania, an operation worth €1.905 billion, which would see the US fund become the largest hotel owner in the country. The supervisor must now analyse whether the bid is admissible and, in the event that it deems that it is, assess the documentation for its approval. Only then will the period be opened for acceptance of the deal by the shareholders. In this way, Blackstone has formalised its takeover bid for the hotel Socimi that it announced on 5 April, after it purchased 16.5% of the share capital from the investor George Soros and whereby became the company’s largest shareholder. The bid is effectively directed at the 83.5% of Hispania’s share capital that the fund does not yet control, by offering €17.45 per share, which brings the operation value to around €1.59 billion. In the documentation submitted to the supervisor on Monday, Blackstone did not include any bank guarantee to secure that amount, although it did state that it would present such a guarantee within a period of […]

The small town of Almancil is located a 15-minute drive from Faro Airport and a short drive from two of the most luxurious developments on the Algarve coast, Quinta do Lago and Vale Lo Lobo. It is an area that offers great investment opportunities as well as the chance to start in business. The commercial area of Almancil lies close to the town centre. Office and retail space for either investment or for a new life in Portugal doesn’t come cheap, but for around 350,000 euros it is possible to buy a plot of land with planning permission for the construction of apartments and retail space. Buying an already established business such as a restaurant or a small shop that will suit all types of business will cost around 180,000 to 275,000 euros. Business or investment opportunities for smaller budgets are located further inland, where it is sometimes possible to find plots of land that contain derelict commercial or residential buildings. In Duas Sentinelas, which is near the Aquashow Park complex, one of Portugal’s largest water parks, and within a short drive of Quarteira town centre, a residential plot of land with around 800 square metres can be found for […]

23 April 2018 – Expansión The Socimi, which owns five complexes in Guadalajara and Valencia, has received a dozen offers for its assets, all of them for a price of more than €75 million. Some of the players that have bid for Lar España’s logistics portfolio include the US fund Blackstone, P3 Logistic Parks – a platform controlled by the Singapore sovereign fund -, Palm Capital, CBRE Global Investors, Ares Management and Nuveen, according to market sources speaking to Expansión. In the logistics sector, the Socimi in which the fund manager Pimco holds a stake, owns four complexes in the municipality of Alovera (Guadalajara), in the heart of the Corredor del Henares. Together, that site comprises ten logistics warehouses with a total constructed surface area of 142,630 m2 occupied by tenants such as Saint Gobain Isover Ibérica, Tech Data, Carrefour and Factor 5. In addition, the Socimi owns a logistics complex in Almussafes (Valencia) containing a logistics warehouse with a constructed surface area of 19,211 m2. That warehouse is occupied by Valautomoción, the supplier of car parts and accessories to Ford, which was acquired by Ferrostaal in 2015. According to the latest figures published by the Socimi, its portfolio of […]

23 April 2018 – El Confidencial Sacyr wants to take the conflict with the Region of Murcia over the private airport in Corvera to its logical conclusion. The construction company chaired by Manuel Manrique is claiming €518.5 million from the Regional (Partido Popular) government for the suspension of the concession to operate the airport infrastructure, which has ended up in the hands of the public entity Aena. The company in which the Murcian owner of El Pozo also owns a stake is demanding twice the amount that it cost it to construct the property. According to an internal document from Sacyr, the ‘Concessionaire Company of the Airport for the Region of Murcia’ (‘Sociedad Concesionaria del Aeropuerto de la Región de Murcia’ or SCAM) filed a report on 17 January urging the autonomous government to issue a resolution to award the concessionaire a settlement of €518.5 million. That petition comes almost five years after the Government, now chaired by Fernando López Miras, terminated the contract for an alleged breach and a month after the Murican Executive agreed the management of the private airport with Aena – which is controlled by the State – for the next 25 years. The claim is […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime Amazon’s support centre for SMEs has opened its doors in the [email protected] district of Barcelona. From its Sell Support Hub facilities, the US company is going to offer support services to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Spain, Italy and France that sell their products through Amazon Marketplace. The facilities, which house more than 200 employees, are also going to be home to Amazon’s Research and Development Centre, specialising in machine learning. The date for the opening of that centre has not been released yet, but its doors are expected to open within the next few months. From its new centre, Amazon is going to help companies understand how to use its tools to sell globally through its different web platforms. According to François Saugier, Vice-President of Amazon Marketplace in Europe, it is laying the foundations for companies to make the leap into the digital economy. Seller Support Hub is going to facilitate the creation of 500 jobs over the next three years. Regarding the choice of Barcelona as the location for this centre, François Nuyts, Vice-President and Director General of Amazon.es and Amazon.it, said that “it is a city that combines international talent […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime Elaia Investment Spain is growing through purchases. The Socimi has acquired a hotel in Mallorca for a total value of €5.7 million, according to a statement filed by the group with the Alternative Investment Market. The asset acquired is Hotel Valparaiso, an establishment spanning 2,400 m2 on a plot measuring 4,400 m2, located on the seafront in Cala Murada, Manacor (Mallorca). This represents Elaia Investment Spain’s sixth asset in the Balearic Islands. The hotel is located on the east of the island, on a cliff top, 17km from the underground lake in the Drach Caves and 3.5 nautical miles from Portocolom. Elaia is a Socimi focusing primarily on the tourist accommodation sector (87% of its assets), whilst the rest of its portfolio comprises residential assets. Following this acquisition, the Socimi now owns 15 assets in total: two residential buildings in Madrid, seven tourist apartment complexes, five hotels and one project under development. Batipart is currently the majority shareholder of Elaia, in which it holds a 66% stake. The other shares are distributed between 22 shareholders including Euler Hermès Reinsurance (13.81%), Allianz Invest Pierre (9.21%), managed by Immovalor Gestion, and other individual and corporate shareholders […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime The number of mortgages signed to buy homes in Spain during 2017 rose by 10.9% with respect to 2016. According to the Real Estate Yearbook 2017 from the College of Registrars, 310,640 mortgage loans were signed, a figure that represents an increase of 56% compared to the minimum level recorded in 2013. But, despite that significant gain, the figure is still well below the 1.3 million mortgages signed in 2006. The study reveals that the number of residential mortgages increased in every autonomous region last year, with double-digit growth rates in eight of them. The largest increases were recorded in the Community of Madrid (17.8%), La Rioja (17.8%), Asturias (16.5%), Andalucía (11.7%), Cantabria (11.5%) and the Community of Valencia (11.3%). The regions where the greatest volume of mortgages were signed included Andalucía (60,026), the Community of Madrid (56,866), Cataluña (50,848) and the Community of Valencia (32,408). In addition to domestic buyers, international purchasers also become more active. In fact, 6.9% of the residential mortgages signed last year were formalised by foreigners, exceeding 21,000 contracts in absolute terms, although three times as many overseas buyers purchased a home in Spain without any financing at all. […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime Luxury homes in Spain are becoming increasingly more expensive. The luxury residential market saw the value of prime homes increase by 18% during the first quarter of this year. The average price paid during the 3 months to March for these kinds of properties amounted to €924,000, significantly more than the €780,000 recorded by this exclusive branch of the segment during the same period last year, according to data from Lucas Fox. The strong performance of the Spanish economy in recent times is once again stimulating demand from domestic and overseas investors to purchase homes in the country, above all along the coast and in the major cities. According to the report from the real estate agency specialising in luxury homes, Marbella and Sitges are the most prime area of this market, and they are monopolising business along the coastlines on which they are located, the Costa del Sol and Costa Brava, respectively. In the case of Marbella, the city accounted for 67% of the sales that were completed in the region, whilst on the most southerly coast of Cataluña, Sitges accounted for half of all the business on the Costa Brava. “We saw […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime Blackstone is going to refinance all of the debt owed by Fidere, its rental home Socimi. The US fund has signed a €543 million loan with an international finance company for its Spanish subsidiary. Thanks to this operation, the company is going to be able to distribute a dividend amounting to €120 million, as reported by the group to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB). In addition to undertaking the refinancing of this debt, Blackstone is planning to use this new loan to tackle Fidere’s investment plans and to manage the distribution of the group’s reserves. In this sense, the objective of the fund, as the majority shareholder, is to raise funds to pay a mega-dividend. Currently, Fidere has a financial debt with the fund that owns it of €117 million, in addition to the €270 million that it holds in mortgage loans with several Spanish financial institutions such as BBVA, Sabadell, CaixaBank, Popular and Bankia. The capital injection that Blackstone has made into its real estate subsidiary has a term of two years, with the option of being extending to five years in the event that certain conditions are fulfilled. The payment of interest […]

23 April 2018 – Eje Prime After closing one of the most important real estate operations of the year, Deka is looking to capitalise on its investment with a new knock-on effect. The German fund manager has just put back on the market the majority of the stores that it purchased at the beginning of the year from the Galician giant Inditex, in an operation worth around €400 million, according to sources close to the sales process, speaking to Eje Prime. According to the same sources, Deka has divided the portfolio into three. The first part comprises two properties, which the fund is going to hold onto, those at number 16 Calle Preciados, in Madrid (with 2,725 m2 of retail space) and number 58 Calle Pelayo, in Barcelona (with 5,134 m2 of retail space). The second and third parts of the portfolio are already up for sale. The aim of Deka is to divest the assets located in secondary cities (such as those located in Zamora, Albacete and Ciudad Real) by placing them on the market and also to listen to offers for the assets located in cities such as Valencia and Madrid, which, although they are not strategic for […]

23 April 2018 – Bolsa Mania The large opportunistic funds are setting their sights on Banco Sabadell to close one of the major operations in Europe of 2018. The sounding out process initiated by the Catalan entity to transfer around €7.5 billion in real estate assets, as published by this newspaper, is generating a lot of interest amongst the large international funds, according to Vozpópuli. At least three of them are examining the portfolio carefully: Cerberus, Blackstone and Lone Star, according to financial sources consulted by Vozpópuli. The third is the only one that was left out of the major operations signed in 2017 involving: Popular’s real estate – Project Quasar – which Blackstone purchased; and BBVA’s property – Project Marina, which Cerberus acquired, and which is pending final approval. For the time being, the other ‘usual suspect’ Apollo is not involved in the latest operation. The same sources add that the funds have suggested that Solvia should be included in the sale. That would achieve several objectives: it would retain the managers that know the assets and add volume to their real estate platforms in a sector that is in the midst of consolidation. Cerberus owns Haya Real Estate, […]

Olhão in the Eastern Algarve is just a short drive from Faro Airport and Faro itself, where shopping, restaurants and bars are plentiful and nightlife centres around Rua do Prior. Tavira is only a 40-minute train ride away and Vilamoura to the west of Olhão, one of the Algarve’s major resorts and golf enthusiast’s first port of call, is a mere 30-minute bus ride away. Olhão Property Olhão is a quiet, residential town, a good place to look for affordable villas and cheap Algarve apartments. Many people who buy property in the town work in nearby Faro. For around 75,000 euros it is possible to purchase a two -bedroomed resale apartment in Olhão, which might need some cosmetic updates but will serve perfectly well as a starting point for a new life on the Algarve coast. It’s also a you love water sports, Olhão offers several excellent opportunities to try out snorkelling and scuba dive. The crystal clear waters of the Ilha da Culatra are the perfect place to discover a wealth of marine life. Various operators offer boat trips to nearby islands such as Ilha da Armora and short cruises along the coast. Ilha da Armora is a great […]

20 April 2018 – Eje Prime The leasing of logistics space in Cataluña rebounded by 48% during the first quarter of 2018 with respect to the same period a year earlier, to amount to 185,890 m2, according to a report compiled by the Research Department at BNP Paribas Real Estate. The leasing figure is 40% higher than the quarterly average for the last three years, during a period of consolidation in the Catalan logistics market. A large proportion of the surface area leased during the first quarter of the year saw the pre-rental of warehouses under construction and turnkey projects. In this sense, operations involving surface areas ranging from 7,000 m2 to 50,000 m2 stood out in particular. Rental prices continued to rise and prime rents increased by 3%, to reach €6.5/m2/month. The good pace of logistics leasing indicates that the upward trend will continue over the next few quarters. In terms of average rents in the local, regional and national logistics corridors, the same behaviour is being observed in terms of rising prices and a decrease in shortages, with growth of 5% in annual terms, to reach €4.7/m2/month. On the other hand, the availability rate of logistics space in […]

20 April 2018 – Eje Prime A new setback for the Sanahuja family. The Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Restructuring of the Banking System (Sareb) has decided to foreclose six plots of land in Madrid owned by the Catalan family by means of a judicial auction with the aim of recovering the €13 million owed to it by the clan. Five of the plots are located in Vicálvaro and the other one is in Getafe. For the latter, Sareb has set a starting price of €12.7 million, whilst for the plots in Vicálvaro, the bad bank is asking for between €2.5 million and €5.7 million, depending on the plot for sale, according to El Confidencial. The Sanahuja family were the kings of the Spanish property sector during the era of the real estate bubble, above all, after climbing to the Presidency of Metrovacesa, the listed property developer of which they became the majority shareholders. Afterwards, Román Sanahuja (pictured above), the patriarch of the family, led the company to bankruptcy. Now, the clan has accumulated a debt of €44 million with the Tax Authorities, according to the most recent list of large debtors published by the public […]