The Housing Act recently approved by the government has spotlighted so‑called large property owners in Spain. A CBRE report, however, characterizes them as a small segment of the market. It confirms that large landowners are a minority, holding roughly 100,000 rental units, about 5% of the total market and spread among mutual funds, banks, and insurers. This share is notably smaller than in several other EU nations, such as Germany with 34% and France with 23%.
Who are the major landlords?
CaixaBank, the largest holder
Caixabank owns 16,002 rental properties, with figures updated through March of this year. All units are managed by Servihabitat. The parent company outlines its intention to divest the entire rental portfolio under criteria focused on financial discipline and value maximization, as stated on its corporate site.
Blackstone
Following the housing market downturn, Blackstone emerged as a highly active buyer of rental homes. Some investments, including those tied to insurers, are structured through the Socimi regime, a tax framework common in many markets that favors 0% corporate tax while requiring stock market listing and distribution of profits as dividends.
The firm made several acquisitions in the aftermath of the crisis. Fidere presently owns around 5,500 homes and is known for leading the purchase of 1,860 apartments from the Madrid Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS). This deal sparked political debate but was legally sanctioned by Madrid’s regional court last year. Recently, Fidere completed a successful debt refinancing.
In 2019, Blackstone completed the acquisition of Testa Homes, once the largest rental housing platform. Company data show that about 10,360 properties can be rented after a series of sales.
What other funds own housing?
Spanish asset manager duration was among the early entrants to the professional rental market. Since 2004 it has built a portfolio of 7,500 rental apartments and plans to reach 9,000 by 2024, marking its twentieth anniversary. It is currently controlled by CBRE IM and Nestar (formerly Lazora).
Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, DWS, counts 1,550 apartments in its portfolio, with around 330 for rent and the rest under construction. Its most notable purchase involved a deal with Gestilar to build 1,100 homes for €250 million, plus 1,763 residences under construction from Plan Vive, a public-private partnership project bought for roughly €250 million. In total, DWS’s portfolio stood at about 3,313 apartments.
Several other groups are active: a Dutch fund closed and an Australian fund with a combined 4,250 homes in operation and 1,750 under construction. They plan to add 750 more by year end, with the overall value of their apartments around €1.4 billion.
Catella Asset Management lists 2,300 completed rental homes, with a distribution across Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Vitoria, and Pamplona. Major acquisitions have included subsidized housing projects in Madrid’s Vallecas district.
SA, the Spanish Rental Housing Corporation, stands as one of the country’s largest owners. Around 2,228 homes are held by the Catalan founders Vaque Boix and Banco Santander, and the company trades on a market that prioritizes cautious expansion.
Temporary Properties, the former real estate agency behind Sareb, remains a key owner with about 2,370 rental properties after selling some assets in recent years.
Basel-based B Capital Partners, with Barcelona roots, shows about 2,025 rental homes, according to Atlas Real Estate data from early 2022. A later purchase added 600 more from Testa, reaching about 2,625, though the company has not fully confirmed these numbers. Cerberus, prominent after the crisis for non-performing loan portfolios, also figures into these tallies.
Future homeowners
Several funds compose sizable rental-home portfolios. Ares Management and its Spanish subsidiary Avalon Features stand out. Active in Spain since 2019, they blend strategies that involve acquiring new construction awaiting renovation and purchasing already built units. Their reported acquisition tally shows about 3,000 homes, with multiple plots in the Community of Madrid slated to yield 3,500 additional homes for lease by late this year and into 2024. The overall portfolio reportedly exceeds 7,500 units.
Apart from Nestar, Azora is building an 8,000‑home platform in partnership with Singapore’s GIC. The plan is to invest around €1.5 billion over the next decade. Brisa has 2,000 homes in various stages of development.
Nuveen Real Estate and Kronos Houses also aim for substantial growth targets, with Kal spearheading an effort to assemble a 5,000‑home portfolio by 2025 and a value target near €1 billion. Presently, 336 properties are in operation and 590 are under construction, with 451 expected to be leased before year end.
Spanish Lar Group and the French partner Primitive are developing a joint platform with 518 homes active and a target of 680 by 2023. They also have 1,760 units in development with an estimated value around €450 million, aiming to reach 5,000 homes across Spain through new-build projects.
Deutsche Finance International continues to carve out a portfolio, not by building from scratch but by acquiring components from various properties. The stated aim is to own 5,000 homes by the end of 2023, with all operations channeled through Socimi and its manager Niding, listed on Paris Global Pielago.
Insurers
Insurance companies have also tilted toward rental housing, seeking steady, modest returns with low risk. French AXA and German Allianz dominate the major bets in this area.
AXA, via its investment arm AXA Investment Managers, reported 2,244 active homes in Spain at the end of 2022, with additional acquisitions scheduled for delivery in coming months, bringing the total to about 4,032 units. Some holdings are listed in France under Aref Thalassa and Core.
Allianz has also invested heavily in rental housing. In 2021, its Socimi acquired 421 homes in Madrid and Barcelona, and in 2022 it bought 245 apartments in Madrid’s Chamartín district for €185 million from Blackstone.
Developers of housing
Developers run their own rental strategies. Some, like Aedas Homes or Metrovacesa, sell complete turnkey buildings, while others like Neinor Homes or Vía Célere build large portfolios to eventually transfer to big funds for maximum returns.
Vía Célere and the American fund Greystar boast a portfolio of about 2,400 homes under construction. The promoter recently sold 55% of the fund for €400 million. Greystar indicates that about 1,611 will be occupied this year, with 985 in 2024 and 284 in 2025.
Neinor Homes reports roughly 4,600 rental homes under construction, with 542 already in operation and 1,324 under construction. The remaining 1,331 have been launched, including the Habitatge Metropolis Barcelona project, which involves a public-private partnership with Cevasa, the Barcelona City Council, and the Metropolitan Area to deliver lower-than-market rents.
Public sector
Public administrations remain major shareholders. Saree describes a model where the state controls more than half of the stock, with 8,225 rental units across various schemes: market-rate, social leases, and council/community rentals, while the so‑called bad bank retains ownership. The goal is to raise social contracts to 10,000–14,000 units and to add 10,000–15,000 affordable rentals through private collaborations.
The Madrid Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS) stands as a notable example of public sector involvement. It owned 6,615 homes and, along with social housing programs, the stock rises beyond 25,000 when including under-construction, occupied without title deeds, and judicial processes. Public data from the Ministry of Transport in 2020 show large regional concentrations of social rental homes, including Andalusia, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, Extremadura, Asturias, the Community of Valencia, and Castilla La-Mancha.
EMVS and related social housing initiatives illustrate how authorities balance public access with market dynamics, shaping the rental landscape in contemporary Spain. [Sources: CBRE report; government and corporate disclosures.]