On the morning of Tuesday, 11 March, the Community of Madrid had a full house for the conference ‘European City Models: The Madrid Way’, which it organised at MIPIM. José Luís Martinez Almeida was one of the guests to take the stage at the session, where he recognised the strategic importance of the real estate sector. "Real estate is essential for the future of Madrid in many different ways. Firstly, it is essential for economic growth. Secondly, it is necessary to ensure a good quality of life for those who live there,‘ said the government official. ’Madrid offers the perfect blend of opportunities, economic activity and quality of life. It's quite difficult to find any other city worldwide that combines these elements so well. Nowadays, people don't just look for a municipality in which to invest because of the economic opportunities, but also – and even more so – because of its quality of life," Martinez Almeida said.
“We do indeed have this mix. And, while on the one hand this is why we attract so many people and companies, on the other hand it is also where one of our great challenges lies, as it is imperative to scale up the existing housing supply in the city to meet this latent demand. But for this to happen, private investment is necessary, but we also need land available for development. And, at a time when land scarcity is widespread across Europe, Madrid stands out to investors because it is the European capital with the largest pool of land available for real estate development," said ASPRIMA president Carolina Roca.
Despite the above advantages, the executive led by José Luis Martinez Almeida recognises that ‘predictability, cooperation between public and private authorities, and legal and fiscal stability’ are sine qua non conditions for investors. Therefore, "in recent years, we have been working intensively to ensure these conditions. We had to review all the bureaucratic steps in the licensing process, in order to simplify it and thus provide investors and developers with the necessary tools to build more, better and faster."
ASPRIMA confirms the change. ‘As a representative of private investors, I can assure you that this is indeed happening: a paradigm shift is underway in urban planning and licensing in Madrid, with reforms based on digital transformation, which focus on eliminating uncertainty,’ said Carolina Roca. "Development potential is essential, but it is not enough to attract real estate investment to a city. Property developers need predictability and certainty in regulation and speed in processes, and this is something that is effectively happening in Madrid." The developers' representative shares this optimism and is convinced that ‘this ongoing revolution will culminate in the creation of a global pool of affordable housing’, which comes at a time when the European Housing Plan is opening up an interesting investment opportunity in the sector. For all these reasons, ‘we want Madrid to be the European capital of affordable housing. We are in a prime position to attract more and more private investment to the sector and thus realise this ambition.’
