CBRE Global Investors currently have 2,400 million euros of assets under their management in Spain and Portugal, by means of seven investment funds and a series of individual investors. Their assets comprise 19 shopping centres, high street shops, 29 logistics platforms and an office building (recently acquired from Barclays Bank Colón de Madrid Plaza).
“Traditionally, we have invested in shopping centres and in logistics, and recently we have returned to the office sector. We still aim to invest in these sectors, but we do not shy away from others, including alternative investments like student lodgings and others with a hotel component”, Roncero points out, affirming that “the sector is quite ‘warm’ in terms of yield, has gone down a good deal, and lacks quality product. Now it is more important than ever to select the product, study the business plan and execute it”.
By sector, Antonio Roncero is of the opinion that in logistics there are many good opportunities for top rate products and in good locations, especially in Madrid and Barcelona, “although less liquid markets like Valencia and Andalucía are performing well”. As for retail, “in shopping centres we seek projects with better returns, which implies more active management and in the high street we see great potential, given that the demand from retailers tends to be concentrated in the best zones, and consequently good opportunities will present themselves, not only in these areas, but in the surrounding zones, due to proximity, as is happening in the Gran Vía and in the calle Fuencarral in Madrid, for example”. In offices, in spite of the lack of quality product, the Spanish market in prime zones has a very heterogeneous stock which opens up a range of possibilities for renovation projects and the addition of value to the assets, the director of CBRE Global Investors points out. Finally, he is more reserved on the subject of the housing sector, fundamentally because of the lack of dimension and professionalization of the rental housing market in our country.
With respect to a general perception on the evolution of the sector, Roncero confirms the consolidation of the current recovery, with good prospects for growth in rents in all sectors, in line with the recovery of the Spanish economy.