Domestic investors are taking centre stage in Spain's investment market, accounting for 66.2% of transactions in the first nine months of the year, up from 33.3% in the same period in 2010, according to international real estate advisor Savills.
Domestic investors are taking centre stage in Spain's investment market, accounting for 66.2% of transactions in the first nine months of the year, up from 33.3% in the same period in 2010, according to international real estate advisor Savills.
Total volume in Spain's investment market came to almost EUR 1.25 bn in the first three quarters of 2011, a fall of 52% compared to the same period in 2010.
Vendors include banks attempting to remove real estate from their balance sheets as well as local authorities selling assets to gain liquidity. Both the Andalusian and Catalan Regional Governments have portfolios on the market, including well-located office assets, which are attracting interest from both opportunistic and core investors.
'In recent times there has been a two-tier market with opportunistic investors focused on portfolio and large scale individual deals while the more traditional core investors remain focused on well-located, high-quality assets with high occupancy rates and solvent tenants on long-term lease contracts,' said Danny Kinnoch, international investment director Savills Spain. 'Domestic investors continue to dominate the core market but international players remain on the lookout for opportune deals.'
Major international players including Orion, RREEF, Generali Lend Lease, Doughty Hanson, AXA, Perella Weinberg and Rockspring have all been active this year.
'With an improvement in market sentiment in relation to other Euro countries combined with more realistic pricing taking into account the macro-economic situation in Spain, we expect 2012 investment volumes to exceed those of 2011,' Kinnoch added.
