国际投资者涌入西班牙酒店市场

    “我不认为西班牙酒店行业出现了一波繁荣。我只是认为，趋势正在改变。”乔迪•巴迪亚•洛伦斯表示。他的巴塞罗那房地产基金Emin Capital刚刚以1.5亿欧元买下了当地的地标性建筑Torre Agbar大楼，并计划再投资5000万-6000万欧元将其重新装修，改建为一家君悦（Grand Hyatt）酒店。

    若有人持不同观点，也在情理之中。

    2008年西班牙房地产泡沫破裂后投资者一度夺路而走，但如今房地产投资者已重新涌入西班牙酒店市场。事实上，世邦魏理仕西班牙（CBRE Spain）提供的数据显示，仅2014年上半年就有7.24亿欧元（约10亿美元）的资金注入西班牙酒店市场，已经超出2013年全年的6.65亿欧元。

    像巴迪亚收购Torre Agbar大楼一样，很多投资都是大手笔。

    西班牙KKH Capital & Property集团和总部位于纽约的Perella Weinberg Partners以9000万欧元买下巴塞罗那的德意志银行（Deutsche Bank）大楼，计划将其改建为一家豪华酒店。卡塔尔主权财富基金之一Katara Hospitality以6000万欧元买下马德里的洲际酒店（InterContinental）。乔治•索罗斯持股的Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios以2150万欧元购得马尔贝拉的Hotel Guadalmina度假村。卡塔尔军方的投资机构以7850万欧元购得巴塞罗那的万丽酒店（Renaissance Hotel）。

    西班牙酒店行业的卖点显而易见，那就是旅游业。旅游业一直是西班牙经济初步复苏的动力。2014年前7个月，有3630万名海外游客到访西班牙，消费了350亿欧元，游客人数和消费金额均创下新高。

    但是，西班牙酒店行业的投资繁荣背后还有一些不那么显而易见的原因。在经历经济危机后，西班牙经济出现复苏，这使得其酒店市场的投资回报率远高于其他国家出现泡沫的房地产市场。

    “过去六年，国际投资者不怎么看好欧元区。他们决定投资欧元区以外的国家，比如，英国、瑞士和北欧国家。由于对这些国家的投资过于集中，产生了巨大的泡沫。”世邦魏理仕西班牙的研究和投资策略总监帕特里西奥•帕洛玛•穆里洛表示，“现在他们正在寻求投资地域多元化。由于市场不再怎么担心西班牙是否会脱离欧元区，该国正成为投资者最感兴趣的投资目的地之一。”

    另外，还有盈利能力的问题。西班牙的住宅市场价格已大幅下跌（有些地区跌幅超过了50%），但是五花八门的房地产投资组合以及建筑过剩已令投资抉择艰难。购物中心是一种选择，但主要适合有经验的购物中心运营商。顶级办公楼的盈利能力也在下降。

    顶级办公楼的投资收益率在2007年西班牙的房地产泡沫期间曾创下4.25%的低点，后来在2009年办公楼房价暴跌后一度飙升至6.5%。但据世邦魏理仕西班牙的数据，由于租金下降（2013年触底）和外国投资者推高办公楼房价，收益率已回落至5.5%。

    “I do not think there is a boom in the hotel industry in Spain. I just think the trend is changing,” says Jordi Badia Llorens, whose Barcelona real estate fund Emin Capital just paid 150 million euros for Barcelona’s iconic Torre Agbar building, in which it plans to invest another 50-60 million euros to refurbish it for use as a Grand Hyatt hotel.

    One could be excused for disagreeing.

    After fleeing the country following the 2008 collapse of its real estate bubble, property investors have flooded into the Spanish hotel market. In fact, during the first half of 2014, 724 million euros (about $1 billion) was injected into the Spanish hotel sector, according to CBRE Spain, compared to 665 million euros in all of 2013.

    Like Badia’s purchase of the Torre Agbar, many of the investments have been large.

    The Spanish group KKH Capital & Property and the New York-based Perella Weinberg Partners bought Barcelona’s Deutsche Bank tower for 90 euros million and plan to convert it into a luxury hotel. Katara Hospitality, a wing of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, paid 60 millioneuros for Madrid’s InterContinental hotel. The George Soros-funded Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios bought the Hotel Guadalmina resort in Marbella for 21.5 million euros. And the investment arm of Qatar’s military bought Barcelona’s Renaissance Hotel for 78.5 million euros.

    The appeal of the Spanish hotel industry is obvious: tourism. The industry has been the driver of Spain’s nascent economic recovery. During the first seven months of 2014, 36.3 million foreign tourists visitedthe country and spent 35 billion euros, both record highs.

    But there are other, less obvious reasons for the boom in hotel investment in Spain. For one, Spain’s trip to the brink and back has made investments in its hotel market much more profitable than the frothy real estate markets in other countries.

    “For the last six years, international investors didn’t trust the euro zone. So they decided to invest in any market outside of the Euro, like the U.K., Switzerland, and the Nordic countries. Because investment was so concentrated in those countries, they created a large bubble,” says Patricio Palomar Murillo, director of research and investment strategy at CBRE Spain. “Now, they are looking to diversify geographically. And now that’s there’s not so much worry that Spain will leave the euro, it’s becoming one of the most interesting countries to invest in.”

    There is also the issue of profitability. Spain’s residential property market has seen huge price drops—over 50% in some areas—but disparate property portfolios and overbuilding have made investing adifficult proposition. Shopping centers are an option, but mostly for experienced mall operators. And profitability for prime office space is down.

    Prime office investment yields, which bottomed at 4.25% during Spain’s real estate bubble in 2007, surged after the price crash to 6.5% in 2009. But the combination of falling rents, which bottomed in 2013, and a rise in office building prices inspired by international investors, has sent yields back to 5.5%, according to CBRE Spain.