Logistics sector shoots up in Barcelona, leading job creation

• • 46% of investors are interested in putting resources into logistics assets in Barcelona
• • 80% of logistics projects are turnkey and only 20% are speculative

According to data from a recent survey compiled by real estate consultancy JLL and the IESE business school, 46% of investors have a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ interest in putting resources into logistics assets in Barcelona. In this regard, Catalonia, and Barcelona in particular, have shifted the logistics real estate market in Spain, and the Catalan capital led the sector in 2015, in part due to the increase in e-commerce. Cushman&Wakefieldalso notes in a recent report that investors in the logistics sector are particularly interested in Barcelona.

The JLL survey highlights that, without counting the Amazon project to build a logistics center in El Prat de Llobregat, the absorption rate for logistics and industrial land in Barcelona shot up between 55% and 76%, well above that of Madrid, which even fell slightly, despite being well ahead of Barcelona in 2014.

It must be noted that, unlike the Spanish capital where most of the projects are speculative, in Barcelona it is most common to develop turnkey projects, tailored to a specific client. JLL consultancy puts it in figures and, specifically, in Madrid 40% of the surface area is turnkey developments while 60% is speculative. In Barcelona, however, 80% of all projects are turnkey and only 20% are speculative.

Logistics has become a strategic commitment for Barcelona and Catalonia, and as such the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council –through the Barcelona Catalonia initiative– participated in the latest Mipim real estate fair, which is the most important in the sector in Europe, to show international investors new logistics projects.

Logistics sector leads creation of new jobs
For the third year in a row, new jobs were created in Catalonia in 2015. The nearly 54,000 new positions weren’t distributed evenly among all of the activity in the economic fabric, according to the study conducted by the Catalan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Families based on the results of the Active Population Survey. The creation of new jobs was noted most in the transport and storage sector, meaning logistics, along with healthcare and social services. The logistics sector saw 18,000 new workers in 2015, up 11%.