In Spain

barcelona investment

Catalonia loses 26% of rental supply -40,000 apartments- and prices continue to rise in first year of application of new law limiting rent rises to CPI

For a year now, Catalonia has been a real estate laboratory. This Sunday marks 12 months since the Generalitat decided to adopt the Housing Law and declare “stressed areas” in 140 of its municipalities, later adding another 131. It was the first community to do so – the Basque Country joined later, and so far no one else has – and today 90% of the Catalan population lives in an…


banco sabadell

Zurich insurance company exceeds 4% shareholding in Banco Sabadell

Link Securities | Zurich insurance company has just exceeded 4% shareholding in Banco Sabadell (SAB), according to information included yesterday in the register of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), according to the newspaper Expansión. The Swiss firm controls 4.03% of the Spanish bank, up from the previous 3.96%. Zurich Insurance Group has been making daily purchases on trading days since 21 February. With these acquisitions, it has increased its…


Bank of spain new

Bank of Spain raises GDP forecast for 2025 to 2.7% year-on-year and maintains 2026 and 2027 forecasts

Bankinter | The Bank of Spain (BdE) has revised its GDP forecasts for 2025 to 2.7% year-on-year (up 0.2pp); and unchanged at 1.9% for 2026 and 1.7% for 2027. It has also revised the inflation projections for 2025 upwards to 2.5% (up 0.4pp), due to the rise in energy prices, and maintains those for 2026 and 2027 at 1.7% and 2.4% respectively. They project an unemployment rate of 10.5% (down…


Inditex

Inditex: A Q4 Beat And A Q1 To-Date Miss

Jefferies | ITX’s 5% Q4 EBIT beat confirmed the compounding power of the group’s affordable quality fashion proposition. Of course, it will be the clear miss in current trading at a 4% gain (versus we think buy-side at 7%/8%) which will set the debate this morning. The acceleration to 7% last week (as weather turned more seasonal) suggests that meteorological conditions were especially difficult during a small part of Q1…


BBVA vela atardecer

Securities Market Commission authorises BBVA to offer trading and custody services for bitcoins and ether in Spain

Alphavalue / Divacons | The bank announced yesterday that it has received approval from the Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to offer trading and custody services for bitcoins and ether in Spain. The bank explained that the rollout of this service will initially begin with a small group of users and will be extended in the coming months to all its individual customers in Spain, based on the experience gained in…


Forty years of Spanish constitution: What's next?

PSOE’s partners in Government refuse to increase military spending

The parties belonging to Sumar, the far-left coalition that is part of the government led by the PSOE, held a meeting late on Monday afternoon (which extended into the early hours of the night) to try to reach a consensus on the latest mandate from the European Council before the meeting between the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz – leader of Sumar – and the president of the Government. The…


vivienda españa

House prices in Spain up 11.3% year-on-year in Q4 2024 against 8.1% previously, no signs of bubble

Bankinter | The House Price Index, produced by the INE, points to a price increase of 11.3% in Q4 2024 (year-on-year), against 8.1% previously. In quarter-on-quarter terms, up 1.8% versus 2.8% previously). Analysts’ opinion: House prices are a positive surprise and will exceed our forecast of an 8% rise for 2024. They are supported by a strong labour market, supply shortages and interest rate cuts. We expect further price rises…


Congreso

Budgets, housing plan, reduction of working hours, judicial reform, all stalled because government lacks majority in Congress

There are no budgets, nor does the government expect there to be any, at least in the short term. The unblocking of dialogue with Junts, in exchange for new concessions such as shared competencies in immigration, has not managed to clear a legislature that is ‘barren in substantial reforms’… ‘The government’s major announcements, such as the reduction of working hours, housing assistance measures, the democratic regeneration plan, or the modernization…


España bancos

Spanish banks: Headwinds in 1H25 due to risks of somewhat weak NII; downgraded target prices and recommendations, except for Santander, BBVA and Bankinter

Deutsche Bank | Spanish banks have experienced a strong rebound in late 2024 and early 2025 (up 30% year-on-year), significantly outperforming their European peers. Driven by resilient NII, prospects for more stable interest rates and a generally benign macroeconomic environment in Spain supporting activity and asset quality, this positive trend could face potential temporary headwinds. Despite the encouraging results of Q4 2024 and the broadly positive outlook for 2025, the…


Closed

Small businesses in Spain closing at rate of 26 shops a day

Small businesses have experienced a negative trend over the past year, with up to 26 small businesses closing each day, amounting to 9,739 shops that have shut down in the last twelve months, according to data provided by the self-employed association, Uatae. Uatae claims that these figures demonstrate that “small businesses are still in crisis,” due to rising costs, disparities in digitalization, and the strong competition posed by large platforms…