Keep going!

By 18/09/2020

Holidays are over and “as the world does not stop… we keep going!”

We are surrounded by uncertainties, concerns, fears… but at the same time we are providing the best possible service at all times, we want to keep growing, we bet on the future, we are full of enthusiasm, new ideas and illusions, we keep working with a great team of more than 80 professionals.

We still thinking and working for a Barcelona and its surroundings, which are very beautiful despite the fact that now we are sad by the number of commercial premises, closed hotels, etc. How many businesses and, above all, how many jobs lost. This is the most worrying thing!

We believe that it is time to make a great effort for the people, obviously, but combine it with a great effort for the City: to turn it beautiful, clean, safe, attractive, friendly, easy… We have the feeling that now we see a decaying city, dirty, with daily graffiti, more neglect, more occupation, and this cannot be. The crisis is of such a dimension, it has affected so many countries, all the cities will fight to be the first one to recover, and in this fight, we cannot be left behind, we are gambling too much! We will see the vision and commitment of the government and the different administrations.

In addition, as we have to keep going, we can explain to you how we have seen the real estate market in these last two months, July and August, from our experience:

Commercialization-sale

  • 19 new-build homes have been deeded, sold on plan a time ago, and we have only had 2 resignations: one from a client related to the restaurant sector and the other due to a serious illness.
  • There have been 26 sales of new construction, a 12% higher in relation to the previous year. However, if we calculate it from January to August of this year, a 38% less has been done in global operations.
  • In the case of the second hand and luxury, the numbers of operations have increased due to the fact that immediately after finish the lockdown the demand for houses outside Barcelona and for houses with terraces grew.
  • Until today, it is not being more difficult to get a mortgage.

Commercialization-rental

It is the same that happen in the case of commercialization-sale, in the two months of July and August there have been 12% more operations than the same period of the previous year, but in since January there is 5% less that the last year.

Patrimonial rental

  • We have managed to keep debts very controlled, we have gone from 0.85% that we had until March of this year, to 1.63% that we currently have, it is little in relation to the average for the sector, but we have doubled.
  • The re-negotiations of the contractual conditions have represented 15% of our portfolio, most of which we are talking about business premises, reaching an agreement in 93% of the cases.
  • Voluntary rescission of rental contracts are at the same level as in 2019.

Patrimonial Owners community

  • The debt in Communities is, until August 31, 6.4%; it has increased 33% in percentage terms.
  • What has increased a lot have been incidents, mostly due to coexistence issues caused by the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and due to the difficulties of finding experts to solve the most urgent issues during the first moments of lockdown.
  • It should be noted that we did 28 online meetings with the communities of owners and all the meetings to follow up. We had been trying this for years and now has been the time.

Consultancy

  • In the investment area, we have had a certain stoppage, but none of the operations that were underway have fallen.
  • Moreover, in the area of tax and legal consulting, the files have increased. In the case of tax, because the numbers of rents and patrimony have increased, and in the case of legal it’s because, unfortunately, more inheritances have been managed, a direct effect of COVID-19. From here our condolences and accompaniment to all the families who have lost a loved one.

We want to thank the suppliers, collaborators, external professionals and our team that has done everything possible and impossible to continue with the activity.

Finally, what trend will we see in prices? Everyone is asking this question today. Our vision is that prices will remain with some downward repositioning in the cases in which our valuations have been valued below the expectations of the owners. Despite this, we are at uncertain times.

We are aware that difficult times are coming for almost everyone, that in our sector already are and will surely be harder, but we are positive, we believe that the entire society is sufficiently sensitized to make an extra effort to move forward, we will keep going and we will go out!

Immaculada Amat

Amat Immobiliaris President