45% of 900.000 sqm of the new offer for 2021 are already occupied
Barcelona’s logistic market has shown its resilience under the economic uncertainty caused by Covid-19. Thanks to e-commerce’s boost, there are increasingly more operators interested in Catalonia, since the region has a strategic location to become a distribution centre for Southern Europe, concluded the experts who joined the debate organised by Savills Aguirre Newman Barcelona.
During the session, moderated by Anna Gener, the company’s president and CEO in Barcelona, participants also warned the current lack of stock (with a 3.1% availability rate throughout Catalonia and less than 1% within the city’s first urban ring) implies that part of the demand will not be met.
Gloria Valverde, Industrial and Logistic director at Savills Aguirre Newman Barcelona, remarked that the lack of space and adequate product in terms of location, rents and characteristics and not the situation generated by Coivid-19, was the main reason for which these demands were not met. «Barcelona had an active and strong demand before the Covid-19 pandemic which was reinforced by this new situation».
A proof that operators are aware of this lack of product is the pre-lease of around 65% of the new 325.000 sqm offer for 2021. According to its forecast, Barcelona will close the year with a logistic contracting of 425.000 sqm. Up until September, the Catalan capital had absorbed 320.000 sqm corresponding to 51 operations, compared to 47 during the same period last year. Most of these were e-commerce transactions (fashion and home, mainly) as well as automation and pharma.
Gloria Valverde explained that, under the current situation, projects in the third urban ring and funds which had no position within the logistic market before, also became interested in this market. The remaining participants also acknowledged the high number of new tenders who came to Catalonia this year.
Antonio Montero, head of Industrial and Logistics at Savills Aguirre Newman, explained that the situation of the Madrid logistic market is different from that of Barcelona. «For 2021 the market will have a new offer of 900.000 sqm, of which 45% is already spoken for. With this stock, the areas in the city centre will increase by around 10.4%»
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