JLL and BME Growth have analysed the performance of Spain’s top listed real estate firms, known as socimis, during the last year of the pandemic. The analysis revealed that listed companies specialising in retail and hotels were the most negatively affected.
Merlin Properties is the leader at 4.322 billion euros by market capitalisation, closely followed by Colonial with €4.309 billion. Three other companies on the BME Growth index have valuations above one billion euros: General Galerías Comerciales (€3.640 billion); Vivenio Residencial (€1.350 billion) and GMP, owned by the Montoro family and GIC, with a market cap of €1.09 billion. On the Continuous Market: Lar España has been heavily penalised by its asset type (shopping centres) and Árima, created by the founders of Axiare after its acquisition by Colonial.
If there is one real estate market that has suffered, it is that of the socimis. Not necessarily in terms of assets, but certainly in terms of share prices. Merlin and Colonial themselves suffered falls of more than 55%, although they recovered part of their losses, though still down by a third since February 2020.
