Los fondos congelan inversiones en España por los decretos de vivienda

In Spain, investments are being frozen due to decretos de vivienda, according to investors in the residential market. The Rental Housing Forum, organized by Planner Exhibitions, brought together senior directors from major investment firms, developers, operators, and funds present in the Spanish residential sector. They warned that legal uncertainty is exacerbating the housing emergency, caused by a structural mismatch between housing creation and the limited production of homes.

Javier Rodríguez-Heredia, a partner director at Azora, stated that the company currently has nearly €1 billion in capital available for investment in the Spanish residential market, but warned that resources will move or target other markets depending on what happens. The Council of Ministers approved two real decrees on October 6th, one of which has already taken effect, resulting in measures such as the extension of two years for certain rental contracts and new restrictions on the purchase of homes by companies and large shareholders.

International investors, such as Norway's sovereign wealth fund and BlackRock, remain interested in Spain due to its strong fundamentals and demand, but are delaying their decisions due to regulatory uncertainty and lack of predictability. Grupo Lar and Q-Living emphasized the impact of recent regulatory measures on investment, with Grupo Lar's CEO Miguel Ángel Peña criticizing the "tortuous" approval of real decrees, which has brutally affected the investment market.

Peña specifically called for greater predictability in land management to offer credible and sufficient timelines and guarantees to international capital. Q-Living's CEO Rosa Gallego described the current situation as a "perfect storm," noting that not only has investment halted, but also the development of new projects and signing of new rental contracts have been slowed down, awaiting the outcome of the decrees' trampling and legislative validation.

Gallego lamented the regulation that is "against the solvers" of the housing problem, criticizing the compulsory extension of protected rental contracts without verifying if tenants still meet the income conditions that justified their access to housing. She also pointed out that this measure prevents the turnover of the residential park and harms young or vulnerable families who meet the requirements to access a home but cannot find available properties as existing ones remain occupied.

All directors agreed that residential investment requires very long-term horizons and called for a 15-year State housing pact that guarantees stable rules and allows for the removal of housing from political opportunism and electoral cycles. They also highlighted the paradox that the main political parties share some diagnoses and solutions, such as modifying an article of the Land Law to prevent a formal defect from nullifying a complete urban planning project, but fail to approve measures due to disputes over attributing merits or avoiding the opponent "hooking the medal."

Felipe Pérez, Praemia REIM Spain's head of REIM, explained that analyzing regulatory changes in investment committees is part of his daily activity, as the company operates in multiple European countries. He noted that regulation in markets like Germany or France is "much worse," and the main problem lies not so much in the regulation itself, but in changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game without justification.

Marta Herrero, Bestinver (Acciona)'s Investment Director, pointed out that another barrier to capital entering Spain is the scarcity of large-scale projects. She noted that large funds have difficulty finding operations with enough volume to deploy their capital and overlook opportunities in cities other than Madrid and Barcelona.