Life in the real estate sector after COVID-19!

 

Predictions show that the sector will continue to be "alive" and "attractive" to investors.

During the containment period, virtual meetings between immobiliary professionals were the order of the day. Of course there has been much discussion during the meetings through Zoom or Skype, among other platforms, about what will happen to the real estate business on the day it returns to normal. The Círculo Ecuestre of Barcelona has held a recent meeting of this kind which draws conclusions that give way to the industry's hope: Spanish real estate is still much alive and attractive to investors.  property

Following months of recovery, everything points to the significant impact of the coronavirus crisis on the real estate sector. But after the pandemic, what is going to happen? The potential impact of coronavirus on the Spanish economy was assessed by Anna Gener, Chief Executive Officer of Savills Aguirre Newman in Barcelona, Juan-Galo Macià, Chief Executive Officer of Engel&Völkers in Spain and Oriol Barrachina, General Manager of Cushman&Wakefield in Spanish.

"The social change that the pandemic has brought about will influence how we view the property, the type of contracts to be concluded and the closure of businesses. We have a situation of parenthesis, but if everything is over, those who want to invest in Spain will continue to want to do that," Gener explains. Uncertainty and discounts will take over the negotiations in the coming months, according to the Directive.

"We are in a situation entirely different from the previous crisis. The owners in Barcelona and Madrid now have a no-debt or bearable-debt situation, are greatly professionalizing and have a much stronger sector," said Gener, adding: "There will be a speedy recovery.

"We must also take into account, particularly in the business of offices, that the balance between supply and demand is one thing that favors stabilizing the market. In Barcelona, we see no oversupply (as in the previous crisis), but rather the opposite: tension and demand are more than supply. The same applies to logistics. This is a favorable situation," the directive says.

For his part, Oriol Barrachina from Cushman&Wakefield assures us that "we are still at the moment of analysis from the perspectives we have been given these weeks. We ask many of our customers and investors about their status and decision-making. Now is the time to analyze and understand how things change to adjust."

However, the Manager of Cushman&Wakefield stresses that "many of the problems we face have already taken place. E-commerce penetration rates were low compared to other countries. This will increase e-commerce participation. This is how telecommuting is done. We have already incorporated teleworking elements...," Barrachina says.

The Manager adds that "after COVID-19, it will not be all e-commerce or telework in a world more omnican in terms of trade and flexible in terms of offices."

Joan Galo Macià, of Engel&Völkers, agrees that "the real estate company faces a completely different stage to the previous one" and explains "there will be also a before or after in the residential area. How much a sector can change in 50 days' time is unbelievable."

"We always have to be optimistic about medium-term plans for someone who will buy a house, but not just in the current climate, both in their work environments and in the economy. There is an enormous backlog of demand and we are engaged in redirecting it. We don't lie if we consider these two months to be the most convulsive real estate in recent years," he adds.