This consultant estimates that the volume of investment by the end of 2017 will surpass the €12,000 million, in a final sprint of the year that is expected to be very active, given the open processes in the market and the energetic investment appetite. The expected growth in production and the employment for the next few years support the purchases on profitability in Spain. In any case, the search for quality assets, which complies with the requirements of institutional investors, is progressively tougher, showing the shortage of quality product, common to the main places of investment in Europe.
With a 30% share in the volume invested in 2017, the retail assets lead the ranking, which has been catapulted mainly by acquisitions of shopping centers.
The offices remain as the second asset with higher investment volume (share of 24% of the total volume in Spain). Investors are concentrated in Madrid and Barcelona, holding these places in 90% of the investment in this type of asset. In Barcelona already exceeds the quota of the entire 2016, with a cumulative of €800 million, twice the record of last year.
The tourism sector maintains the attraction towards the hotels, which unfold an exponential growth in their investment, going from the €1,200 million investment in 2016 up to €2,000 million by the end of September 2017. The highest concentration of hotel acquisitions is registered in the areas of Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, Palma de Mallorca, the Canary Islands and Madrid.
Logistic assets also show great interest, especially the warehouses located in Madrid and Barcelona. The volume of investment in this type of assets has not stopped to grow since 2012 and between the first and third quarters of 2017 have reached €811 million of the investment volume, 100 more than in 2016.
The investment in alternative assets has also been an important note this year.
After a process of fast compression of returns in all the assets, these begin to stabilize in the prime segment of retail and offices. This stability reflects lower growth in capital values that is compensated by rising rents, in the opinion of Cushman & Wakefield. In other cases it reflects stability in the price of assets. For assets such as hotels, logistics and alternative, although there is a margin of compression, as demand continues by the end of the year and in 2018.