The increase in demand along with the «lack of quality offer» motivated DWS to bet on this segment in Spain, where Daniel Gálvez stated he wants to build «a big platform for affordable assets in the coming years».
The German company will not be alone on this adventure through the Spanish housing market and should have the company of Catalan Urban Input company. Its focus is on Madrid and Barcelona, especially.
On this agreement, Daniel Gálvez, DWS Real Estate’s representative for Spain and Portugal, explained to El Economista that «we sought a local partner with expertise on the housing segment to advise us on it, because we chose not to associate ourselves with a single developer exclusively; in this way, we can have a wider range of options in terms of developers so that we can select the projects that better fit our strategy and with the type of product we want».
For now, DWS announced its latest investment in the segment: the purchase of 2 housing projects with a total 320 dwellings destined to the rental market, on which the company expects to spend a total of 100 million euro. This is the first built-to-rent investment carried out by real estate funds belonging to the German company, which, according to Daniel Gálvez, does not have a maximum investment ceiling.
A bet overseas
This bet on the Spanish housing rental market from DWS is part of its European expansion strategy.
«We invested on housing rental in Germany, Ireland, Holland, Finland and Spain and we are seeking opportunities in England, Italy, France and Denmark», revealed DWS’s Iberian representative during the same interview.
It should be noted that only in Portugal and Spain is the German management company controlled by German bank Deutsche Bank which already has a 2 billion euro portfolio which includes shopping centres, offices and logistic units.
