On 8 June, Neinor Homes' CEO took part—along other renowned international real estate experts—in the Breakfast Briefing "The recovery of the Spanish property market", an interesting discussion table, which was convened by PIE in London.

The purpose of the meeting was to review the current situation of the Spanish property sector—from the standpoint of the residential market, the occupier market and the hotel segment, among others—by examining the successes that the industry has been notching up in recent years, and identifying those aspects that still need to gain traction and require a greater effort on the part of market participants.

Some of the issues addressed by speakers touched on subjects such as the areas in Spain that record an increased number of homes and where development activity is picking up, or how an improved macroeconomic situation is having a positive impact and boosting sector recovery.

In this regard, Neinor Homes' CEO drew attention to the fact that consumer confidence is increasingly flowing back. For its part, sentiment among credit institutions is markedly improving after some years of retraction in the allocation of loans, and is now signalling a brisk willingness to lend to potential purchasers. "Banks are currently willing to lend more," said Juan Velayos.

At the same time, he pointed to the fall in unemployment as another key driver of sector recovery. "A falling unemployment rate favours consumer confidence and buyers' ability to purchase an affordable product," he said.

As a matter of fact—in terms of the residential market—one of the most fundamental and pivotal aspects, according to Juan Velayos, is customers' purchasing power and capability to buy an affordable home, which—as he pointed out—"is now possible."

"We ought to be as strong or even stronger than our neighbouring countries"

Buoyed by this upward trend, the property market is returning to a positive territory; this will undoubtedly boost sector recovery across the whole of Spain. However, he warned, "there is still a long road ahead to full recovery and we must demonstrate market strength; we ought to be as strong or even stronger than our neighbouring countries."

Aside from Neinor Homes' CEO, the following also participated in the briefing: Melanie Brown, European Research Analyst for Real Estate at UBS Asset Management; Jason Oram, Head of Southern Europe at Europa Capital; and Louis d'Estienne d'Orves, Senior Transactions Manager at AXA IM Real Assets.

All of them agreed that strong economic growth creates further opportunities for the Spanish real estate market; they also highlighted the marked rise in the demand for homes among consumers, and noted the increased interest among international investor in our country.