Barcelona meeting point: low expectations

The experts met today at the Barcelona Meeting Point Real Estate Hall have argued that the industry must adjust to the new circumstances and change the model, because the exuberance of the past will not return.

Thus, in a conference organized on the future of the industry, Professor of Economics at the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF) José García Montalvo has claimed that "this area was once an industry: the ground was worth so much the material cost and selling it with a margin. "

"Then the industry turned a business, not what things cost, but how could a family maximum pay for your mortgage. And the adjustment means that the real estate business has to go back to being a real estate industry. And this traffic will be very positive, "said García Montalvo.

Secretary of State for Housing, Beatriz Corredor, leading to inaugurate this conference that "after four years of crisis, the sector had to be resized and in 2010 there have been 250,000 homes, and this is the equilibrium level to be have in the coming years. "

To the Secretary of State, "the year 2011 will be a transition year and from here this sector will again make a positive contribution to GDP."

In the opinion of Broker, the balance is "in the 400,000 annual transactions, including purchases of new housing and second-hand", and Secretary of State believes that the current excess inventory of unsold homes will be placed on a phased basis between now and 2014, in part because foreign demand and investment by foreign citizens to invest in holiday homes.

For its part, the president of the association of APCE promoters, Enric Reyna has warned Barcelona that begins to feel a lack of supply, price pressures will make efforts to be successful and not fall to rise again .

It is another point of view of the Secretary of Housing of the Generalitat, Carles Sala, who has called for "remaking the National Housing Pact", which signed the Catalan administration in 2007 to overcome the paralysis of the sector.

Carles Sala has warned that 2011 will be launched less than 10,000 homes in Catalonia, "which is a true state of paralysis" and has therefore called for a new covenant, because the one signed in 2007 was made under some parameters now not valid.

For Living Room, "there is a mismatch between supply and demand" and called for promoting the rent, "which is where you will find supply and demand."

On the other hand, the Minister of Finance of the Generalitat, Andreu Mas-Colell, congratulated the organization for the Meeting Point has been a success and "to maintain continuity and the thrust of this conference at a difficult time for the sector" .

The minister has argued that "Catalonia is a tourism center that will increase, with many new barcelona luxury hotels, but also a large industrial center and engine of the economy, so that in the medium term, will reactivate the industry."

"Now there are difficulties for the credit and the initial stock, but this will be a temporary phenomenon," said Mas-Colell at the closing ceremony today.