Spain’s logistics property sector continues booming.

Spain’s logistic property market received over €1.25 billion in investment during 2018 according to Knight Frank’s Q4 logistic snapshot, in line with the €1.28 billion invested during 2017. Some of the largest transactions of the last quarter of 2018 were Colony Capital & Neinver’s sale to Blackstone, GreenOak’s sale to Invesco and Logistik’s sale to Patrizia.

Madrid closed the year with a take up of 936,000m² of logistics, 2% more than during 2017, and Barcelona enjoyed a take-up of 652,000 m², up 36% versus the previous year with prime rents in the capital growing to €5.50 per m² per month and remaining at a constant of € 6.85 per m² per month in Barcelona.

The growth trend is expected to continue during 2019 and, so far, various investors have been active in the market including Gramercy, GreenOak and DWS. The latest transaction has been the sale of a €9.75 million warehouse in the town of Valdemoro by GORE Spain Holdings SOCIMI I. S.A., a Spanish REIT owned by GreenOak.  

The development of new high-quality logistics platforms is driving the arrival of new operators demanding built to suit solutions and, according to Knight Frank, Spain’s logistics offer is bound to reach approximately 1,500,000 m². In fact, during the end of February, ICC and DWS inaugurated a new 15,700m² logistics center in Madrid’s Torrejón de Ardoz following a €12 million investment. According to Daniel Galvez, Head of Real Estate at DWS in Spain, «the logistics sector continues to be a segment with a relevant investment focus for the funds [DWS] manages”.

Isaak Andic, owner of Mango, is taking advantage of the growing investor demand for logistics and has continued his strategy of selling logistics assets to focus on investing in retail flagships in urban locations. Since 2016, Isaak’s holding, Punta Na, has sold two logistic centres in the Barcelona province (Llisá de Munt & Parets del Vallès). The old logistic centre in Parets del Vallés was purchased by Galician logistics operator Jevaso for €25 million euros according to Expansión newspaper.