More than anything else, land values drove up house prices in the boom, so it’s not surprising the Spanish land market has been hit hardest in the bust. But if the land market in Madrid is anything to go by, buyers are coming back to the market in prime parts of Spain. November was the best month for land transactions in the capital since the bubble burst.
In November alone more than €370 million was spent on land purchases in four large transactions, including the acquisition by the Corte Inglés of the Adif plot next to the Nuevos Ministerios district for €136 million. The Corte Inglés plans to build its “flagship store” on the plot, which they say will be the largest commercial centre in the world. These were the biggest deals in the Madrid property market in November, but there were also a number of other smaller deals.
The bidding organised by Adif for the plot between the Paseo de La Castellana and the Corte Inglés store next to the Nuevos Ministerios district illustrated the growing interest in Madrid’s property market. Adif received a total of six bids for its plot, which finally went to the Corte Inglés. The plot is currently occupied by a public car park and was valued at €30.58 million with a starting price of €40 million. In the end, these figures were well exceeded by the winning bid of €136 million.
Other bids included €77 million from Mothinsa, €62.5 million from Pryconsa, Grupo Villar Mir with an offer of €52 million, Allegra (€55.10 million) and the Venezuelan group Capriles (€46.11 million).
Two other plots in the same area were recently sold at auction to cooperatives managed by Domo Gestora and Grupo Ibosa. The former bought a plot at 50 Raimundo Fernández Villaverde street for €112 million, and the latter bought the plot used for the Madrid subway carriages in the Cuatro Caminos district on 12 November for €88 million.
On 11 November the plot housing the old Buñuel Studios belonging to the Spanish state television (RTVE) was sold to Pryconsa for €35.27 million.
Big investments in land in prime parts of the Spanish capital are another sign that the Spanish property bust is drawing to a close.
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