There is a turbulent climate and the consultant forecasts a «setting of low rates and a much-awaited convergence between the ECB’s monetary policy and the European Commission’s tax policy». In its latest Marketbeat on Investment, Cushman & Wakefield explained that «this combined power will act as a safety net» for the Spanish economy, one of the economies that suffered the most in Europe, and it will «motivate investors to keep spreading capital and maintaining Core and even opportunistic products under their radar». On the other hand, it is expected some caution from banks when it comes to investments in secondary assets, heavily impacted by the pandemic crisis.
But it should be noted that the uncertainty remains and we need to take into account that «the economic conditions will be dependent on the evolution of the pandemic and its consequences on the economic activity», he alerted.
Investment drops to 2013 levels
The real consequences of the confinement in the country are clearly shown by the results of the second quarter, which revealed that real estate investment was reduced to 1.24 billion euro, 44% less y-o-y. We need to go back to 2013 to see a similar number in Spain’s recent history.
Despite the continuing intention to invest, Cushman & Wakefield remarked that these «so called intentions did not materialise into new transactions». Although the frequency of operations slowed down, the fact is that during this period more than 25 assets were traded. The largest share of investment was taken by offices (338 million euro), followed by the multi-family segment (258 million euro), industrial (216 million euro) and retail segment (65 million euro).
According to the consultant, these results already reflect the rise of three new investment currents: the growing bet on logistics boosted by the rise of e-commerce; the increased interest for the private rental sector; and the awakening of a range of assets which proved itself resilient during the crisis like super and hypermarkets envolved especially in sale&leaseback transactions.
