國際投資者涌入西班牙酒店市場

“I do not think there is a boom in the hotel industry in Spain. I just think the trend is changing,” says Jordi Badia Llorens, whose Barcelona real estate fund Emin Capital just paid 150 million euros for Barcelona’s iconic Torre Agbar building, in which it plans to invest another 50-60 million euros to refurbish it for use as a Grand Hyatt hotel.

“我不認爲西班牙酒店行業出現了一波繁榮。我只是認爲，趨勢正在改變。”喬迪o巴迪亞o洛倫斯表示。他的巴塞羅那房地產基金Emin Capital剛剛以1.5億歐元買下了當地的地標性建築Torre Agbar大樓，並計劃再投資5000萬-6000萬歐元將其重新裝修，改建爲一家君悅（Grand Hyatt）酒店。

One could be excused for disagreeing.

若有人持不同觀點，也在情理之中。

After fleeing the country following the 2008 collapse of its real estate bubble, property investors have flooded into the Spanish hotel market. In fact, during the first half of 2014, 724 million euros (about $1 billion) was injected into the Spanish hotel sector, according to CBRE Spain, compared to 665 million euros in all of 2013.

2008年西班牙房地產泡沫破裂後投資者一度奪路而走，但如今房地產投資者已重新涌入西班牙酒店市場。事實上，世邦魏理仕西班牙（CBRE Spain）提供的數據顯示，僅2014年上半年就有7.24億歐元（約10億美元）的資金注入西班牙酒店市場，已經超出2013年全年的6.65億歐元。

Like Badia’s purchase of the Torre Agbar, many of the investments have been large.

像巴迪亞收購Torre Agbar大樓一樣，很多投資都是大手筆。

The Spanish group KKH Capital & Property and the New York-based Perella Weinberg Partners bought Barcelona’s Deutsche Bank tower for 90 euros million and plan to convert it into a luxury hotel. Katara Hospitality, a wing of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, paid 60 millioneuros for Madrid’s InterContinental hotel. The George Soros-funded Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios bought the Hotel Guadalmina resort in Marbella for 21.5 million euros. And the investment arm of Qatar’s military bought Barcelona’s Renaissance Hotel for 78.5 million euros.

西班牙KKH Capital & Property集團和總部位於紐約的Perella Weinberg Partners以9000萬歐元買下巴塞羅那的德意志銀行（Deutsche Bank）大樓，計劃將其改建爲一家豪華酒店。卡塔爾主權財富基金之一Katara Hospitality以6000萬歐元買下馬德里的洲際酒店（InterContinental）。喬治o索羅斯持股的Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios以2150萬歐元購得馬爾貝拉的Hotel Guadalmina度假村。卡塔爾軍方的投資機構以7850萬歐元購得巴塞羅那的萬麗酒店（Renaissance Hotel）。

The appeal of the Spanish hotel industry is obvious: tourism. The industry has been the driver of Spain’s nascent economic recovery. During the first seven months of 2014, 36.3 million foreign tourists visitedthe country and spent 35 billion euros, both record highs.

西班牙酒店行業的賣點顯而易見，那就是旅遊業。旅遊業一直是西班牙經濟初步復甦的動力。2014年前7個月，有3630萬名海外遊客到訪西班牙，消費了350億歐元，遊客人數和消費金額均創下新高。

But there are other, less obvious reasons for the boom in hotel investment in Spain. For one, Spain’s trip to the brink and back has made investments in its hotel market much more profitable than the frothy real estate markets in other countries.

但是，西班牙酒店行業的投資繁榮背後還有一些不那麼顯而易見的原因。在經歷經濟危機後，西班牙經濟出現復甦，這使得其酒店市場的投資回報率遠高於其他國家出現泡沫的房地產市場。

“For the last six years, international investors didn’t trust the euro zone. So they decided to invest in any market outside of the Euro, like the U.K., Switzerland, and the Nordic countries. Because investment was so concentrated in those countries, they created a large bubble,” says Patricio Palomar Murillo, director of research and investment strategy at CBRE Spain. “Now, they are looking to diversify geographically. And now that’s there’s not so much worry that Spain will leave the euro, it’s becoming one of the most interesting countries to invest in.”

“過去六年，國際投資者不怎麼看好歐元區。他們決定投資歐元區以外的國家，比如，英國、瑞士和北歐國家。由於對這些國家的投資過於集中，產生了巨大的泡沫。”世邦魏理仕西班牙的研究和投資策略總監帕特里西奧o帕洛瑪o穆裏洛表示，“現在他們正在尋求投資地域多元化。由於市場不再怎麼擔心西班牙是否會脫離歐元區，該國正成爲投資者最感興趣的投資目的地之一。”

There is also the issue of profitability. Spain’s residential property market has seen huge price drops—over 50% in some areas—but disparate property portfolios and overbuilding have made investing adifficult proposition. Shopping centers are an option, but mostly for experienced mall operators. And profitability for prime office space is down.

另外，還有盈利能力的問題。西班牙的住宅市場價格已大幅下跌（有些地區跌幅超過了50%），但是五花八門的房地產投資組合以及建築過剩已令投資抉擇艱難。購物中心是一種選擇，但主要適合有經驗的購物中心運營商。頂級辦公樓的盈利能力也在下降。

Prime office investment yields, which bottomed at 4.25% during Spain’s real estate bubble in 2007, surged after the price crash to 6.5% in 2009. But the combination of falling rents, which bottomed in 2013, and a rise in office building prices inspired by international investors, has sent yields back to 5.5%, according to CBRE Spain.

頂級辦公樓的投資收益率在2007年西班牙的房地產泡沫期間曾創下4.25%的低點，後來在2009年辦公樓房價暴跌後一度飆升至6.5%。但據世邦魏理仕西班牙的數據，由於租金下降（2013年觸底）和外國投資者推高辦公樓房價，收益率已回落至5.5%。

“These days, hotels are profitable sources of income, which can’t be said for offices,” says Badia.

“現在，酒店是盈利來源，辦公樓就談不上了。”巴迪亞表示。

So, what will this investment surge mean in the coming years? Investors like Badia are betting that Spain’s tourism boom—and its evolution—will translate into large profits for those who invest now.

那麼，此番投資激增對於未來幾年又意味着什麼呢？像巴迪亞這樣的投資者認定，西班牙的旅遊業繁榮（及其發展）將轉化爲現今投資者的鉅額利潤。

“Since the 90s, tourism in Spain has been a recurring and stable source of revenue,” Badia says. “What we have seen is that the type of tourism to Spain has changed, and with it, the kind of hotels, especially in urban areas. A few years ago, in Barcelona, there were few international luxury brands, while today everyone is looking to have the best hotel in town.”

“自上世紀90年代以來，西班牙旅遊業就一直是持續穩定的收入源泉。”巴迪亞表示，“我們看到西班牙的旅遊市場格局已經改變，隨之而來的是，受親睞的酒店類型，特別是城市地區的酒店類型也在改變。幾年前，巴塞羅那幾乎沒有國際豪華品牌酒店，如今人人都想要最好的酒店。”

Not everyone is so sanguine. Pau Guardans, founder and owner of Unico Hotels, says that much of the hotel investment boom can be traced to the poor profitability of other real estate investments in Spain, as well as revised laws for SOCIMIs (Spain’s version of REITs), which have attracted several billion euros into Spanish real estate.

並不是所有人都這麼樂觀。Unico Hotels的創始人及所有人波o戈丹斯認爲，此番酒店投資繁榮在一定程度上是因爲西班牙其他房地產板塊的投資收益不佳，以及SOCIMI法律修訂[即西班牙版的房地產信託基金（REIT）]，這吸引了數十億歐元的投資進入西班牙房地產市場。

“That there is investor pressure [in hotels] doesn’t mean that hotels are great investments. But they are better than the rest,” says Guardans.

“（酒店）受到投資者青睞，並不意味着酒店就是極棒的投資。但它們比其他投資好。”戈丹斯表示。

Guardans expects the investment surge to lead to a glut of hotel space in the coming years, which would cut the profitability of investments being made today.

戈丹斯預計，投資激增將導致未來一些年酒店過剩，降低當前投資的盈利能力。

“There will be more supply than demand in hotels in Spain when all these are built in two or three years,” he says. “Barcelona is a clear case. Madrid or the coast too.”

“兩三年後，當所有這些投資項目都建成時，西班牙酒店市場將出現供大於求的局面。”他說，“巴塞羅那顯然是這樣，馬德里或沿海地區也可能出現這樣的狀況。”

Still, Guardans says he is looking at space in Madrid, which has seen less hotel investment than Barcelona. And investors like Badia expect demand to meet the supply.

但戈丹斯表示，他正在馬德里尋找機會，這個地區的酒店投資少於巴塞羅那。但像巴迪亞這樣的投資者預計需求增長能趕上供應增長。

“Over the decades, Spain has shown that it is able to absorb the hotel supply. Even in the crisis years, tourists have continued to visit Spain,” Badia says.

“過去幾十年，西班牙一直都能夠消化酒店供應。即便是在危機時期，西班牙也一直吸引遊客們前往。”巴迪亞說。