Malaga remains one of the most attractive Spanish cities for investors, in particular due to its strategic location in terms of local, regional and international logistics. The high interest from funds and specialised developers in acquiring new developments and industrial assets, positions the city as the third best investment alternative, behind Madrid and Barcelona, according to CBRE.
«We have detected, during the last few years, a strong interest from prime international investors in Malaga’s rental and investment markets. Although it is a fact that with Covid-19 this trend could have slowed down, the logistic segment ended up coming out of the crisis reinforced due to the increase in online commerce caused by the lockdown», explained Fernando Corrales, director advisory & transaction investor industrial & logistic leasing CBRE Andalucía Oriental.
«Demand from segments such as e-commerce, pharmaceutical, food, technology and sports have registered much more activity than usual during these last few months», he added.
Although Malaga is awakening to the investors’ interest, one of the factors that defines this city is, precisely, the lack of available logistic spaces. According to numbers from CBRE, at the end of 2020, Malaga had a 515.000 sqm stock. This places it in the last position within the Spanish logistic market, behind Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza and the Basque Country.
«Although the conclusion of large logistic developments in the short and long-term is expected, the lack of stock will lead e-commerce and logistic operators to choose key-in-hand projects. This rising trend will represent an increase in stock, but not in availability and the city will remain one of the province capitals with one of the smallest logistic parks across the country», added Corrales.
Despite a strong demand from operators, the lack of new logistic developments does not meet their needs and this has decelerated rental prices’ increase within the main logistic areas. The prime rent is currently 5.25€/sqm/month in areas such as CTMM and Trévenez. Malaga’s average rent is around 3-5€/sqm/month. Fernando Corrales explained that «both Malaga’s average and prime rent will remain stable and with a moderate growth due to the lack of quality spaces and risk developments up until now».
According to the data compiled by CBRE, logistic contracting in Malaga reached 25.000 sqm during 2020, 20% less than in 2019. The difference when compared to the previous year is that five transactions were carried out this year and in 2020 eight transactions were closed, amongst which the Mahou-San Miguel and Seur locations, Nacex’s repositioning and e-commerce providers. «Contracting evolution will follow a rising trend when new projects such as Fahala, Bacardi and Megahub appear on the market in 2021», explained Corrales.
By areas: most of the demand is located in the first urban ring, where the main logistic areas, such as CTM, Trévenez and Guadalhorce are located; and the second urban ring with Cártama, Alhaurín de la Torre and Casabermeja as the main areas. The third ring, which incorporates logistic areas in Antequera, Marbella and Vélez-Málaga, has a more selective demand and less volume. According to size, 74% of tenants require an area up to 5.000 sqm and only 2% require areas larger than 20.000 sqm.
