According to the data of the consulting company JLL, referred to by the Idealista portal, in 2022, 4 billion euros of investments were recorded in Spain in sectors such as rental housing, residences for the elderly and student housing.
According to JLL and Idealista, this amount represents an increase of only 1% compared to the volume recorded a year earlier. But at the same time, it allows these sectors of the real estate market to set new records for attracting investment.
Small growth, which signals great prospects for these sectors, as it overlaps with the decline at the end of 2022. A recession that made a large number of market participants tense up.
JLL claims that investments in the sector of so-called "alternative residential assets" were stimulated by the conclusion of a number of major transactions throughout the past year.
We are talking, for example, about the purchase of 1,500 objects by Patrizia from Becorp. The deal amounted to 600 million euros. Another example is the Dutch pension fund PGGM, which acquired RESA for 850 million euros.
JLL insists that the housing sector continues to generate a great appetite among investors. The total volume of investments in this residential segment of the Spanish market has tripled over the past 4 years, today it accounts for a quarter of all investments in Spanish residential real estate.
Also in the past years, residential complexes have become increasingly popular. Private houses fade into the background, and apartments come forward. And most of them are built for rent.
Investments in apartments for rent accounted for 60% of the total investment in the residential sector — 2.3 billion euros. Of this number, the autonomous communities of Madrid and Barcelona accounted for 71%.
Student dormitories, meanwhile, ended the year with 1.3 billion euros of attracted investments, and residences for the elderly attracted 432 million euros.
However, in general, the residential market is beginning to occupy a smaller and smaller share in all real estate investments in Spain. This was influenced by various factors, from the global situation with interest rates and inflation, ending with increased expenses and falling incomes of Spanish households.
The slowdown in economic activity and the fact that the Spanish population is increasingly losing access to the housing market from month to month have led to the fact that in the last three months the country's housing has attracted a little more than 300 million euros. This is a decline of 77% by 2021 and 73% by the third quarter of 2022.
It is worth noting that the share of investments in residential complexes for the IV quarter of last year is in proportion to its share in the annual segment. Over the past three months, residential complexes have accounted for about 260 million euros of investment. This is 33% more in quarterly terms, although 47% less than in the fourth quarter of 2021. However, the final segment of 2021 was "twisted" up in terms of indicators due to two large transactions worth 225 million euros.
The fourth quarter also ended negatively for "alternative assets". They raised 44 million euros, which is 41% less than in the third quarter of 2022 and 34% less than in the fourth quarter of 2021.