«The operators’ and investors’ interest goes beyond Madrid and Barcelona and extends to other cities. Valencia, for example, registered a high activity, although the lack of available terrain is becoming more and more apparent in this market», commented Alberto Larrazábal, National Logistics and Industry director at CBRE. “Other cities, such as Malaga, Zaragoza, Bilbao and Seville stand out as important logistic hubs in our country».
The key in hand projects are the ones in greater demand by investors (77%) although half the respondents would invest in risky projects. According to Larrazábal, “both the lack of XXL and XXXL warehouses and the lack of product that meets e-commerce operators’ requirements has generated an outstanding amount of projects both speculative and key in hand, in Madrid and Barcelona. Many investors would rather focus on this type of product located in prime locations».
Regarding the investment activity in the logistic sector, the answers show optimism, in line with the volume of investment registered in Spain in 2018 which reached around 1.500 million euro. Hence, most respondents (96%) say they will keep buying assets in the next few months, focusing 100% on logistic assets, while 42% believe that besides the logistic sector, they will also invest in the industrial sector.
Regarding rents’ evolution, the report concludes that the opinions are divided since 54% of respondents believe there will be an increase in the main logistic markets in the coming months, while 42% consider the rents will remain the same. «In our opinion, the trend is for slight increases in some areas where there is lack of available product, for example in Barcelona, Zaragoza, Seville and Malaga», remarked Concepción Mínguez.