Big Investors Are Shopping For Spanish Real Estate

Spanish real estate fell by nearly a third in value after the financial crisis, according to the ECB. But unofficially, the losses ran much higher, and worse, the market was basically frozen over because buyers were hard to find even at rock bottom valuations. In a turnaround of sorts last year, Axa Real Estate Investment Managers, the number one property fund manager in Europe, snapped up commercial office space placed on the block by the Catalan government for 172 million euros (about $224 million). This deal was a kind of ice-breaker for the market, say Spanish real estate insiders. Soros…