Real estate investment in Barcelona maintained record figures in 2022, attracting a total of 3,586 million euros, in line with the 3,654 million euros registered in 2021, when covid was already left behind and operations achieved in pre-pandemic years were surpassed. This "frenetic" trend of the last two years, according to the head of CBRE Barcelona, Xavier Güell, will give way this 2023 to a slowdown in activity, framed by issues such as the increase in interest rates, high inflation, and layoffs announced by large technology companies.
The consultancy firm estimates the drop to be between 20% and 30%, which will place real estate investment in Barcelona between 2,500 million euros and 2,900 million euros this year. This figure will be similar to that registered in previous years, such as in 2016 (2,517 million euros) or in 2019 (2,951 million euros), which were the best data in the historical series until 2021.
"The slowdown in investment activity began in September 2022 and is expected to continue until the end of the first half of this year. From that moment on, we expect a gradual recovery of investment activity. This does not mean that investment activity will disappear in the first half of the year. Activity will exist and we will see operations, but the pace and number of operations will be lower," explains Güell.
Beyond the market cooling, not exclusive to the city and extensible to the rest of Spain and Europe, CBRE highlights that the Catalan capital has consolidated with the 2022 figures the turning point that occurred in 2019, when real estate investment approached the 3,000 million euro mark, with 2,951 million euros. "Barcelona moved to another dimension. One might have thought it was a one-off, but in 2021 we saw that it wasn't and the definitive proof has arrived this 2022," Güell points out.
Barcelona, flex city
The sector continued to be dominated by offices, which accounted for 30% of the investment with 1,100 million euros, a trend that has not been maintained in the rest of Spain. This segment attracted 42% of all operations carried out in the country, a figure lower than in 2021, when it was 70%, but which still shows the dynamism of the Catalan capital, considering that it has half the stock of Madrid.
22@, especially the northern area, continues to be the main explanation for these figures. Since 2019, the city's technology district has accounted for more than 50% of office investment, where, in addition, larger ticket operations occur.
One of the trends being registered in the office segment is that of flexible workspaces, such as coworkings. 3.3% of the available stock corresponds to this type, which makes Barcelona the third European city with the highest weight, only behind London and Amsterdam.
Since 2019, 22@ has accounted for more than 50% of office investmentDespite the leadership of offices, the other segments that have made it onto the podium have been living(28%) and industrial and logistics (18%), both with considerable growth compared to previous years and reducing the historical weight of offices. Theliving, with the majority of the investment destined for rental housing, closed 2022 with 1.010 billion euros, a 59% increase compared to 2021.The main protagonist was Patrizia's purchase of 1,500 homes from BeCorp, for 600 million euros.The industrial leg achieved 662 million euros, almost doubling the figures of 2021, despite the low availability of land in the first and second rings, where demand is concentrated.
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