Catalonia drives recovery in Spanish logistics market

• • The Barcelona area saw 564,000 m2 leased, up 80% 
• • More than half of all logistics investment came from foreign investors

The logistics market in Spain saw nearly one million square meters of space leased last year, up 37% from the previous year. A good part of this increase is due to the high leasing levels in the Barcelona area, with 564,000 m2, up nearly 80% from 2014. This data is from real estate consultancy JLL.

In Catalonia as a whole, the automotive sector and fashion were the two sectors with the largest logistics operations, despite the formidable growth of e-commerce that is also driving the sector. The logistics spaces leased exclusively to distribute products from companies that only have online sales now make up 10% of the total.

The most noteworthy operations carried out last year include those of Decathlon, which leased a new 40,000-m2 warehouse in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Barcelona, and of Kellogg’s in Valls, Tarragona, with more than 26,000 m2. Additionally, the agreement for the logistics center Amazon expects to open in El Prat, Barcelona, with 210,000 m2 of space, was signed in January. This points to a continuation of the upward trend in logistics leasing in 2016.

Noteworthy data provided by JLL includes that half of all investment in the sector came from foreign investors, who particularly value quality connections and access to a complete network of infrastructures and transport and logistics companies that offer all the services they need to store and distribute their products.