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2017 / iberian.propery // 49
ISSUE: TOP IBERIAN Investors //dossier
In 2016, the Spanish real estate market hit a
new record investment volume, registering
over € 14,000 million.
The total volume invested in the Spanish real
estate market reached € 14,022 million, up
8.2% y-o-y and a new record high. Major deals
that were particularly noteworthy included the
acquisition of the Diagonal Mar Shopping Centre
in Barcelona for € 493 million and Torre Cepsa
in Madrid for € 490 million. As well as portfolio
deals, such as the acquisition of the Merlin Prop-
erties hotel portfolio by Foncière des Regions.
In 2016, investors showed a clear interest in
all sectors, however, as in 2015, offices proved
the most attractive asset class, posting an in-
vestment volume of just over €4,800 million.
Nevertheless, this figure was down on the
€5,500 million booked in 2015, in contrast to
all other sectors where 2016’s volumes topped
those seen in 2015.
2017 started on a good footing and was the
best start to a year ever seen in terms of in-
vestment volume.
Things could not look better following an upbeat
Q1 2017. Interest to invest in the Spanish market
remains rife and the volume registered is the
best start to a year on record. A total of € 3,375
million was invested, 48%more than in Q1 2016.
OVERSEAS VERSUS DOMESTIC
INVESTORS
Since the sector started to recover back in 2013,
overseas investors have shown a particularly
strong interest in all sectors of the Spanish real
estate market. Almost 75% of the total volume
invested came fromoutside of Spain in 2013, and
although this percentage dropped in subsequent
years, a large part of this inflowstarted to be chan-
nelled through Socimis, companies under Spanish
ownership, but largely funded via foreign capital.
In 2016, overseas investors remained very active,
Origin of Capital Flows into Spain
representing almost 39% of the total investment
figure. Socimis accounted for39%,whilst domestic
investors represented20%.This trendextended into
Q1 2017,with68%of investment coming fromover-
seas and domestic capital accounting for just 13%.
The current heightened level of liquidity on the
market, instability in international financial mar-
kets, low-yielding debt markets and forecasts for
rental growth in various real estate sectors, are
some of the factors that have drawn overseas
investors towards the Spanish market during
the past two to three years.
By nationality, since 2015 US investors have
clearly been the most active, accounting for
36% of direct foreign investment, followed by
UK investors who represented 19%.
Among these, we would highlight players such
as Blackstone, Invesco, Intu Properties and CBRE
GlobalInvestors. Regarding themost activedomes-
tic investors since 2015, Pontegadea, Inmobiliaria
ColonialandMeridiaCapitalparticularlystandout.