Neither pandemic nor Ukrainian war. The property investment in Spain had an unstoppable start to the year. The result is the first half with the highest investment in history: nearly 10,000 million, according to data published this Wednesday by CBRE, the world’s largest real estate consultancy. This is 80% more than the same period last year (that is to say almost double) and almost 14% more than in the first half of 2015, the best in history to this day.
The investment of 9,870 million breaks down into 4,424.1 million in the first quarter and 5,445.5 million in the second. Contribute to the figure the 1,987 million from the operation by which BBVA bought 662 agencies from the company Merlin Properties. In other words, more than a fifth of the total investment (20.1% exactly) corresponded to this operation alone. It made the detail (the anglicism with which we call commercial assets in real estate jargon) will attract the greatest attention from investors: 2.918 million. A joy for a sector that has suffered to attract money since the pandemic. As proof, the data for this first half multiply by eight those for the same period of 2021.
After commercial assets, residential (which includes housing, but also other types of residential buildings) was the second most attractive sector. It attracted investments of 2,451 million, which is 71% more than between January and June last year. More than half of this money was intended for real estate whose final destination is the rental of housing. A fifth part it was for student residences and almost the same went to co-living (buildings with common services, similar to student residences but intended for another public, such as young foreign workers).
The investment cake was completed by 1,650 million in the hotel sector, 1,175 million in the industrial and logistics sector (which is experiencing great attraction due to the pandemic although on this occasion it slows down and is slightly lower than the figures of a year ago) and 1,075 million office buildings. CBRE also includes an additional 600 million in what it calls the “alternative sector”, which includes buildings for sanitary purposes. and nursing homesamong other typologies.
For Miriam Goicoechea, director of the Research department of CBRE Spain, the figures “show that the real estate sector in Spain continues to be attractive for investors, even in a changing macroeconomic context”. Although normally the second half is better for investing than the first (this has happened in seven of the last ten years), the expert warns in a note sent to the media about “the existing volatility on the market”.
This volatility, however, has not prevented an all-time high in the consultant’s records, which date back to 2011. Real estate investment (i.e. the money that is allocated to real estate in order to obtain a yield) increased in Spain following the exit from the Great Recession. The result was a hitherto undefeated first half of 2015 marked, then also, by a major operation in which Merlin took part. Although as a buyer, since it was made for nearly 1,800 million with Testaa real estate property with thousands of houses that years later would come under the control of the Blackstone fund.
If the radar also extends to the second half of the year, the period with which this 2022 began remains in third place on the podium in terms of real estate investment. It was exceeded in the second half of 2018 (the year of all records, since total investment exceeded 20,000 million and more than 13,000 million were made between July and December) and it is also slightly exceeded (with 9,979 million investment) the second half of 2016.