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Madrid study tour and mini-conference

We have just concluded an incredible 2 day conference and study tour visiting some of the hottest BTR properties in Madrid, Spain. Big thanks to our event sponsors BoConcept!

We had a diverse audience of expert networkers (representing UK, Ireland, Spain, USA, Germany, Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Cyprus), great presentations, even better discussions, and most importantly, a chance to see the emerging Spanish BTR, Co-living & Flex-living market in all its glory. A few key highlights;

Day 1:

Started with a mini conference at Greystar’s Be Casa Valdebebas scheme. After a short welcome from our CEO, Brendan Geraghty, we heard from Tom Grey, Director of Consultancy at Global Apartment Advisors who set the scene with an informative history lesson of BTR, covering the key drivers behind the growth of the sector and the current global landscape. This transitioned seamlessly into an analytical deep dive into the current Spanish BTR market and residential licencing laws, which was backed up with fascinating data by Alejandro Bermúdez Giralt, CEO of Atlas Real Estate Analytics. Jose Maria Oliva Dominguez of DLA Piper concluded the session with an important summary of the regulatory policies that have resulted in new BTR concepts such as ‘FlexLiving’ – a flexible, multi-tenancy approach, which despite only being a few years old, may pioneer a new way of deploying BTR worldwide.

We then moved on to 4 property tours on Day 1. A short summary of each below:

  1. Greystar’s Be Casa Valdebebas – a well designed 520 unit outstanding example of Flex Living, offering daily rates up to 12 month leases.
  2. Greystar’s Be Casa Essential – a more affordable traditional Multi-Family Housing (not ‘Flex’) offer. 500 units split across 4 buildings with essential modern amenities and international customer service standards.
  3. Node Carabanchel – due to complete in April 2025, this huge 900 mainly studio development provided an alternative perspective on how to deliver BTR at scale. Standout features included a blended co-working and canteen area and range of creative rooftop amenity options including music rooms, podcast studios and games rooms.
  4. Casa Dumont DWS hosted the final tour of the day at their newly acquired Casa Dumont in Getafe – a family focussed product with multiple kids play areas, creches and ample outdoor space amongst other amenities.

We ended Day 1 with a fantastic meal at local restaurant Raimunda where our delegates had the chance to unwind and reflect on a productive day.

Day 2:

Action started early with a networking run around El Retiro park for those that were able, kindly organised by Ronak Rawal, Senior Director at GAA. After breakfast we continued our mini conference at the impressive DLA Piper Office with a focus on design and operations. We heard from John Badman of Gensler, Michael Swiszczowski and Jorge Alonso of Chapman Taylor about the importance of human centric design for European BTR and how this has evolved over the last 10 years. Michel Baumgart of BoConcept then discussed the evolving focus on the interiors of living sector schemes and what modern customers expect. Todd Marler, Senior Director of Operations at Greystar followed with some fascinating insight and data about the value of design with Ronak Rawal concluding the session with a summary of findings for the recent 13 property mystery shopping project that GAA had undertaken in Madrid.

After another tasty lunch, we headed out to the final 2 property tours at:

  1. Greystar’s newly launched 452 unit Nera Living scheme – a luxury MFH product within the Greystar portfolio in Madrid. The wow factor continued throughout the building with impressive communal spaces and amenities, fantastic views from the rooftop terrace, spacious and well furnished units, thanks to our headline sponsor BoConcept
  2. STAY by Kronos was our final tour of the trip. Located in the suburban town of Torrejon (10 mins from the airport and 30 mins to Madrid city centre). Key lessons were learnt about the demographics of their residents who live in the 121 3 bedroom units. Notable highlights included the focus on ESG and design elements such as local artwork and lighting, in particularly in the corridors and stairwells which are often overlooked.  

The Association for Rental Living are extremely proud to have hosted our first international study tour in such an amazing city with so much potential for Living Sector growth. Special thanks goes out to all of our hosts, key sponsor BoConcept, with notable contributions from Global Apartment Advisors, Greystar,  Gensler, Chapman Taylor and Atlas Real Estate Analytics. Please reach out directly to any of the contributors tagged in this post to learn more.

Until next time!

 

Thanks to Ronak Rawal, Senior Director of Global Apartment Advisors, for his contribution to this event summary.

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