This increase is mainly due to the strong demand from investors to buy and capitalize hotel assets, taking advantage of the clear economic and real estate recovery in Spain. Also, in the first 10 months of 2017 the number of tourists who visited Spain exceeded, for the first time, the 73 million.
According to the data collected by CBRE Hotels , 190 hotel assets have now been transacted in Spain, 23% more than in 2016, which represents a 25% increase in the number of rooms sold, reaching 28,000, what should be added the 2,200 future rooms in buildings and projects already sold that are under construction. In addition, the most requested hotel assets are those of 4 stars, hoarding 42% of the investments.
Regarding the main investment destinations in the hotel sector, the Canary Islands (21%) and the Balearic Islands (18%) together with Madrid (17%) occupy the first positions, followed by Barcelona and Malaga.
According to the typology of the transactions, in the sale of hotel portfolios, the referent to vacation agglutinate 60% compared to 40% of the urban ones. On the other hand, in 60% of cases, buyers have invested in individual assets rather than in portfolios (40%).
Among the main operations highlights HI Partners, a hotel platform that Banco Sabadell has recently sold to Blackstone for more than €630 million. It is also worth mentioning the change of owner of the Edificio España that goes into the hands of Riu Hotels & Resorts chain for an approximate value of €272 million; and the Wave portfolio, owned by Starwood Capital y Meliá, which in the middle of this year have transferred 4 hotels in Lanzarote, Ibiza, Torremolinos and Mallorca to London & Regional Properties, with the advice of CBRE.
For Jorge Ruiz, national director of CBRE Hotels, "the hotel investment market has pulverized all the records in this year 2017. The excellent behavior of the main tourist markets and the excess of liquidity in the capital market have led to a historic year with more than 150 transactions in which the institutional capital has returned to be the protagonist". In addition, he adds that "the perspectives are positive and we expect 2018 with a greater market concentration and renewed interest in the tourism industry in our country.”