Real estate investment in Barcelona has stood above 1,100 million euros in the first half of 2023, a figure that represents a 34% drop compared to the same period in 2022, according to the consultancy CBRE. Hotels have been the segment that has shown the most dynamism, doubling the business registered until June of last year and taking 462 million euros, more than 40% of the total investment. With these results, Barcelona's hotel market has concentrated 33% of the volume transacted in all of Spain during the first half. This overturns the usual leadership that offices have had in recent years, which fall to third position, with only 7% of the investment.
The decrease in investment registered by the Catalan capital is part of a generalized slowdown in Europe, with 74,3000 million euros transacted, 56% less compared to the first half of last year. In Spain, the year-on-year decrease has been 47%, higher than that of Barcelona but below that seen in other main markets, such as the Nordic Countries and Italy (-65%), Germany (-63%), the Netherlands (-60%), France (-52%) and the United Kingdom (49%). "The solidity of Barcelona's fundamentals has allowed the Catalan market to have a less pronounced fall than most European cities," remarks the head of CBRE Barcelona, Xavier Güell.
Despite the more optimistic results for the Spanish market, CBRE expects a slowdown in the country's economy in the coming months, as well as in the real estate market, with the forecast of the reactivation of activity in the first months of next year. "The stabilization of financial markets and inflation control will cause a re-entry of capital in the coming months. However, it is possible that a large part of the transactions will end up consolidating in 2024," says Güell.
The main operations of the semester in Barcelona have been the sales of the Mandarin Oriental and Sofia de Barcelona hotels. Reig Capital Group, owned by Andorran businesswoman Maria Reig, sold the Paseo de Gràcia establishment to the Saudi investment group The Olayan Group, thus completing its divestment in the hotel sector. The transaction closed for a record amount of 240 million. For its part, the Hotel Sofia de Barcelona was acquired by the Blasson Property Investments fund and the French insurance group Axa, for 180 million.
"The boom in the luxury segment is even more noticeable in Barcelona than in the rest of Spain. In fact, 5-star and 5-star grand luxury hotels have accounted for 96% of the total transacted from January to June," says Miriam Goicoechea, Director of Research at CBRE Iberia. Another major hotel operation of the year occurred in January, when Meliá took over the management of another asset in the city, the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I, which will become Gran Meliá Miranda de Pedralbes and will reopen after an investment of 40 million.
After hotels, real estate investment focused on the Living segment, with 262 million and a year-on-year drop of 68%, considering that in the first half of 2022, the sale of 1,500 rental homes by BeCorp to Patrizia was closed for 600 million euros. In third position, offices achieved 76 million euros. Despite the fall in the ranking, they accounted for almost 50% of national investment in this segment. Almost 40% was concentrated in 22@ and the seafront.