CBRE will advise Amro Real Estate Partners in the pursuit for a strategic partner for a capital investment of €300 million with the goal of creating an investment platform in up to 5,000 beds in both countries, through development, renewal, forward purchase and acquisitions of assets.
"The student housing market in southern Europe shares characteristics with the UK student housing market from 10-12 years ago, with a housing demand significantly exceeding supply and with limited competition from professional managers. This is a market with lot of potential and that we entered at the right time," said Raj Kotecha, Managing Director of Amro Real Estate Partners, which has developed more than 20,000 beds in the student accommodation sector in the United Kingdom.
To boost its expansion in the region, Amro Real Estate Partners has opened in Madrid its first office outside the UK. The company has also acquired its first property in continental Europe, specifically in Granada, where it will have 360 beds in a project whose works it expects to finish in 2020.
"This operation reflects the interest of investors in this type of alternative assets, which we expect will continue to grow. In Spain, with a world-class university system and with a solid base that is expected to increase, the current imbalance between supply and demand makes us anticipate that the student housing market has a high potential," states Pablo Callejo, director of Alternative Investment of CBRE España.
Currently, Amro Real Estate Partners has a portfolio of projects in negotiation of around more than 3,000 beds, of which 1,300 are in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Lisbon.