Europe’s real estate market may be quickly spiraling downward in a dramatic decline, but Spain’s commerical real estate sector has largely managed to steer clear of the current financial conditions. In fact, Spain’s share of the European commercial real estate market has more than doubled over the past four years. For more on this, see the following article from Property Wire.
The commercial property market in Spain is attracting an increasing share of the European real estate investment market, it is claimed in a new report.
Spain shares many of the qualities that are currently attracting investors to the UK commercial real estate market, according to new research released by property consultants CB Richard Ellis.
The UK real estate market has attracted much attention from potential investors recently due to a growing perception that the repricing of UK real estate has now been sufficient to make it an attractive investment target. Many of the same factors apply to the Spanish market, the report points out.
Claim up to $26,000 per W2 Employee
- Billions of dollars in funding available
- Funds are available to U.S. Businesses NOW
- This is not a loan. These tax credits do not need to be repaid
Although in absolute terms the Spanish commercial real estate investment market has shrunk over the past 18 months, with investment activity totaling €1.85 billion in the first half of 2009, the decline has been much less severe than that seen elsewhere in Europe.
As a result, Spain’s share of the total European market has more than doubled, from around 3% of the total in 2005/06, to 7.5% in the first half of 2009.
The report says that this growth in market share indicates that investors, particularly opportunity funds, are already spotting value in the Spanish market.
It is also significant that Spain saw some of Europe’s largest property deals in the first half of 2009, including two of the nine transactions of more than €200 million. This included the acquisition by Orion Capital of the Plenilunio shopping center in Madrid for €235 million, one of a number of properties that CB Richard Ellis has been marketing on behalf of Banco Santander’s real estate fund, Banif.
An important factor in terms of investor interest in Spain is the relative speed with which the market has repriced, as well as the availability of good quality investment product at those prices. Since the peak of the market in mid-2007, prime yields in Spain have increased by between 200 and 225 basis points. This compares to a European average rise of 136 bps for the same period according to the CB Richard Ellis All-Property EU27 Prime Yield Index.
‘There has been a lot of interest in the properties that we have been marketing. We saw a significant increase in activity in July. CBRE Spain completed four notable deals for Spanish clients totaling more than €300 million in July. Two of these were in Spain, with another two elsewhere in Europe sold to international buyers,’ said Adolfo Ramirez-Escudero, Executive Managing Director CB Richard Ellis Spain.
This article has been republished from Property Wire. You can also view this article at Property Wire, an international real estate news site.
