Spanish transaction activity slows due to lack of assets

Spain’s real estate market has strong demand, but investment volume has slowed because of a lack of available product and delayed completions of deals, according to Savills.

Approximately €8.2 billion ($8.7 billion) was invested in commercial property in 2016, 2 percent below the figure achieved in 2015. And there was a drop in the number of deals closed; the total figure has fallen by 18 percent.

Mega-deals have amounted to €4.2 billion ($4.4 billion), up 51 percent up year-over-year, and accounted for 52 percent of the total number of deals for this year, reports Savills. The retail segment registered the highest amount of commercial property investment, with around 40 percent of mega-deals taking place in this sector, both in terms of volume and the number of deals.

The largest deal of the year, at close to €500 million ($527 million), was the acquisition of the Diagonal Mar shopping center in Barcelona, followed by the purchase of Torre Cepsa by Pont