Spain Remains Top European Property Investment Target
Tuesday, 09 February 2016 10:53
According to World Property Journal Spain is seen as the top investment target in Europe by active investors.
With real estate values still well below their previous peak, Spain’s recent recovery is very strong.
The number of investors viewing Spain – and Barcelona especially- as the most attractive market for commercial real estate purchases has increased dramatically as investor interest grows for European recovery markets.
According to World Property Market, Humphrey White, Head of Capital Markets at Knight Frank Spain, comments “The fundamental rationale behind investing in Spain is even stronger than this time last year. Prime CBD office rents have risen by 20% over the past 12 months, but remain nearly 40% below the 2008 peak, and both footfall and sales have been increasing in dominant shopping centres for six consecutive quarters.”
2015 a year with ups and downs
Though this view is endorsed by many real estate specialists, Spanish Property Insights reports that the euphoric headlines of many newspapers need to be read with caution. According to their recent publication: “Bullish headlines from the real estate market need to be understood in context, cautions one of the leading estate agents in Barcelona.
They explain that though the housing market data coming out of Spain last year was largely positive, and showed substantial increases in sales, new mortgage lending, housing starts, and prices, especially in Barcelona, Amat Inmobiliaria, a leading Barcelona real estate agent suggest 2015 might not have been as good as the headlines suggested.
Quoted in the online article is the Amat international director Homedes: “There is a widespread feeling that 2015 was a very good year in the real estate market, but our view is prudent and less euphoric. After a ‘significant improvement in 2014’, last year was mixed, and more volatility, with ‘no clear trend of improvement.’ In summary, a year with ups and downs.”
He did point out that almost any improvement, however small, is good news after the tremendous real estate crash that Spain has lived through in recent years.
