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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Industrial real estate market in SpainSpain maybe included without any doubt in the list of European success stories. A country that has embraced the democracy 25 years ago and has entered the European Union 15 years ago now is one of the most dynamic economic areas in the Old world (and not only there). To give just an example - in the past 5 years the cost of industrial property in the country has increased its value by 100 percent and the forecasts are that it will continue to increase by 10 percent annually at least in the next years. Everything has its own reasons and the reason of this economic boom in the country after years of stagnation in the late 80s and early 90s is the bold deregulation of the national economy and the tough course of implementation of the strict monetary policy imposed by the European Union. Entering into the Eurozone in 1999 resulted in ever growing flow of foreign capitals and increased industrial and service competition that sharply brought down the level of unemployment*. One of the by-products of this dynamic economic climate was the reduction of the available industrial lots and warehouses and the office space vacancies by 10 percent in the last couple of years. To take only the capital city of Madrid, between 1998 and 2000 the vacant industrial spaces were reduced from 2,1 million sq.meters to 1,8 million sq.meters (1 sq.meter=10 sq.feet). In the country as a whole the vacancies account for 11 percent of the industrial properties. This high level of still unoccupied spaces can be explained by the fact that almost 50 percent of all industrial facilities in the country were built 30 and more years ago and that the investors prefer to put their money building new factories instead of trying to modernize the old infrastructures. The rents for industrial properties in most advanced regions in Spain vary between 40 and 100 US dollars per sq.meter per year. The average annual rent for sq.meter in the country is 60 US dollars. Renting property in Spain was liberalized in 1985 which stimulated the influx of foreign capitals. The contract terms may vary depending on each client business strategy but the average renting period goes between 5 and 10 years. The most in demand are small size (150-600 sq.meters) and medium size (600-2500 sq.meters) industrial facilities. This can be explained by the fact that the most competitive areas of Spain industry are the small and medium size enterprises, intended to accomplish specific tasks providing services or producing parts and elements for major European companies. One of the specific characteristics of the industrial real estate market in Spain is the fact that the investment in new industrial facilities development is much more capital effective than investing in residential or even in commercial properties. The annual rents of modern industrial facilities may reach or even exceed 15 percent of the total investment which means that the investment will be returned in 6-7 years**. Even being more profitable than residential developments, the industrial sector was not particular priority of the Spain government in the early 90s because of the big and costly projects such as EXPO-92 in Seville or the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992). Now with these costly projects being only a history investors began to put their money with some more pragmatic goals. After accomplishment of some major infrastructure projects financed either by the national government or by the European funds the banks in Spain also turn their attention into investing in industrial facilities. Given the expected higher profits in this sector, national and international investors are now competing very tough for new modern developments which results in a market tension. * - Till the middle of 90s Spain was notorious for its high unemployment. In the last 5 years the level of unemployment went down from more than 20 percent to less than 15 percent of the active population. The forecasts are that by 2005 the unemployment could pass under 10-percent mark. ** - The average annual yield on investments in residential development is 5-6 percent, for commercial office spaces - 8-10 percent.
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Spain.
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