The conversion of obsolete offices can become in the coming years the new land exchange for building homes in Barcelona, once the obligation to allocate 30% of each development to social housing is removed, which has slowed down in the last years the changes in use, assured the real estate experts gathered at The District salon.
"There is a lot of money interested in investing in housing, but the regulation is contributing to increase the imbalance between what is produced and what is needed", explained the president of the salon, Juan Velayos. Now, however, they foresee a change. "The new mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, explained at a congress lunch that solving the housing problem is the priority of his mandate and that he is aware that for this he must look for all the ways to increase the supply" , added.
Thus, the City Council's Ecology, Urbanism, Infrastructures, Mobility and Housing committee approved on Tuesday with the votes of PSC, JxCat and the PP to start the modification of the urban regulations that require the reservation of 30% of the built surface in sheltered housing in Barcelona. "This obligation has slowed down all development activity in the city - recalled the president of the APCE, Xavier Vilajoana -, in exchange for providing only 52 social housing units since 2018".
According to real estate agents, the City Council's option is probably to allow developers to pay the value of this 30% to the Council, which will be able to invest it in directly promoting social housing. "It will be another tax" they acknowledge, which will make the price of new-build flats in Barcelona even higher, which now, according to APCE data, already exceeds 7,400 euros/m2/utility. In addition, the key is that comprehensive rehabilitations could be excluded from the payment of this tax, in order to speed up these actions and not lose the aid now offered by European Next Generation funds.
The conversion of offices already made it possible to increase the city's residential stock before the financial crisis of 2008-2013, when "500,000 m2 of offices in the city were transformed into homes and hotels", recalled Oriol Barrachina, president of the Cushman consultancy
The promoters ask that the city undertake regulatory changes that allow the implementation of new residential formulas, such as coliving, small flats in buildings with large areas of common services, from work spaces, lounges, gyms or laundries. According to David Martínez, CEO of Aedas Homes, the Administration must give "flexibility" to change the uses of the old obsolete properties, both the offices on the periphery and the secondary and small shopping centers, which have lost their favor of the big fashion brands, consumers and investors. "I foresee the next creation of new housing models such as co-living or student living, built on non-residential land", he added.
David Vila, chief executive officer of Renta Corporación, also emphasized that rehabilitation is one of the best options in the face of the lack of land, but in his opinion the urban regulations "must adapt to the new mentality of the population and the his concept of cities. Society has different needs and we need to give them answers".
Carmina Ganyet, Colonial's general corporate director, recognized that this transformation not only solves social needs, but is "a great opportunity for investors".
The real estate agents gathered at The District also agreed that the residential sector is the only one in which the demand from users and investors currently far exceeds supply, which is why no price drops are expected.
"In Spain, 200,000 new homes are created each year and only 100,000 homes are built," said Enrique Martínez Laguna, executive director of CBRE Spain. "There is little land and it is very expensive, and developers need clarity on the return to be able to take the risk of building new homes."
