More than 500 million euros of investment in hotels is pumped into the Costa del Sol

Malaga province has consolidated its position as one of the top three preferred destinations on the Spanish mainland for investors in the sector.

A total of 560 million euros was invested in Malaga province last year, according to new figures. The figure is two million euros lower than 2022, according to a hotel investment report prepared by Colliers, a real estate and investment management company.

These transactions place the Costa del Sol in hotel investment terms on the Spanish mainland behind Madrid, with a significant decrease from 803 million in 2022 to 601 million, and Barcelona, ​​with 580 million – double the previous year’s total.

At a national level, in 2023 the hotel investment in Spain reached the second-highest historical figure at 4.248 billion euros, following 2018 when it exceeded 4.8 billion euros. Last year, across the country 171 hotels and 21,748 rooms changed hands, compared to 133 hotels and 17,754 rooms in 2022.

The investment management company also pointed out that hotel properties became the most sought-after real estate assets in the Spanish market in 2023 and have catapulted the country to first place in hotel investment in Europe, ahead of the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Some of the most significant transitions have been those of GIC, which included seven hotels in Malaga province, and Equity Inmuebles, with the Meliá Marbella Banús and Sol Guadalmar, the acquisition by Meridia Capital of the Hotel Molina Lario; the purchase by the Catalonia chain of two hotels in Ronda owned by Unicaja and the award by Blue Sea Hotels, controlled by the Portobello Capital fund, of the Hotel Royal Al-Andalus.

Regarding purchase prices, Colliers detailed that during 2023, and despite the macroeconomic environment and increases in interest rates, the average prices per room of the transacted hotels have increased to 182,900 euros per room, some 8.4%. more than in 2022. With notable exceptions such as the sale of prime assets such as the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona or the Autograph Collection Palacio del Retiro in Madrid, which have exceeded the mark of one million euros per room.

“The tourism and hotel industry in Spain is experiencing unprecedented investment. In 2023, the real consolidation of international interest in our hotel market has arrived with more than 4,000 million invested, it is only behind the USA, which obviously plays in another league, and whose hotel investment market is around 23,000 million dollars,” said Laura Hernando, managing director of the hotels department at Colliers International Spain.

Source: SUR in English, January 2024