The round table included contributions from Juan Fernández-Aceytuno, Managing Director of ST Sociedad de Tasación; Juan Antonio Gómez-Pintado, President and CEO of Vía Célere; David Martínez, General Director of AEDAS Homes; Concha Osácar, Founder member of Azora; Jorge Pérez de Leza, CEO of Metrovacesa Suelo y Promoción and Juan Velayos, CEO of Neinor Homes. It was moderated by Alberto Valls, of the Financial Advisory at Deloitte.
Juan Fernández-Aceytuno first explained that, ”We do not see a real estate ‘bubble’, and another very distinct aspect is that definite tension focal points can be detected in the market.” He continued to explain that there are five indicators which serve as early warning signs of overpricing in the sector. There are: the relationship between the number of mortgages and transactions; the relationship between the GNP and affiliation to the national social security scheme in relation to house prices; the relationship between the growth in the price of land and house prices at the local level; the type of interest in total financing of house purchase compared to the legal cash price and, finally, increases in rents.
Juan Antonio Gómez Pintado points out, “the great challenge to the sector is to provide access to housing to young people’” and also, ”to be self-critical and to undertake an industrial model instead of a speculative one,” as in the past. Linked to this theme, El CEO de Vía Célere and the sponsor APCE explained that the beginning of the process of the transformation of real estate development is evident, but, ”Our sector is not developing quickly enough, and there is clearly resistance to change.” Gómez Pintado is of the opinion that the sector is very scattered, although there is a small nucleus of more powerful companies, making up as much as 5% or 10% of total market turnover.
David Martínez corroborated this situation. For the CEO of Aedas Homes, “Without any doubt, the sector is moving according to parameters of yield, and not based on the speculative model,” which demands a greater capacity for adaption, more industrialization and higher quality. “It is good news that the crisis has ‘cleaned up’ the sector and has contributed to its improvement, for the well being of the industry and, above all, of the consumer.”