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The SmartRental Group sees itself as a manager of "alternative" residential assets, which means that it provides everything except housing for long-term, permanent living. Or, to put it another way, it is dedicated to managing temporary accommodation in all its forms, a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly prevalent. These can be tourist apartments, student residences, co-living, flex-living and even 'senior living' options.
SmartRental has now set its sights (and its expanding property portfolio) on Malaga city, where it is about to open for business with six tourist apartments and a building with 60 rooms for short-stay rentals under the co-living format. Moreover, this is just the beginning, as it has another four projects in the "design and construction" phase in Malaga city that will add 107 more tourist flats, according to Borja Sánchez, SmartRental Group's expansion director (a mix of business development, growth and investment).
The tourist apartment building opening soon is on Calle Santa Lucía, very close to Calle Larios. It will operate under the SMARTR Málaga Centro brand. Also this month the co-living project on Calle Bresca in the district of Trinidad is set to open with 60 rooms. This model, similar to a student residence, is based on renting rooms for weeks or months with or without private bathroom in a building that includes services such as gym, communal kitchen and co-working spaces. Foreign students and digital nomads are its typical customer base. In addition, Sánchez reveals that they have four other "assets in the design phase" in Malaga, all of them tourist flats.
"For us, Malaga is a clear target for growth. It is a city with enormous potential that has been positioning itself in recent years as one of the most interesting cities for investment and expansion," says Sánchez, who focuses his attention on "tourist and living assets." But the company not only has its sights set on the capital of Malaga province, but also on the Costa del Sol, where it is studying "several senior living assets [residential complexes with services designed specifically for the elderly]." "This is a type of asset that we have already begun to exploit and on which we are going to focus in the coming years."
The company is determined to exploit the boom in short- and medium-term accommodation that is taking place in Spain, driven by the rise in non-hotel tourism and investors shying away from the long-term rental market. SmartRental's strategy is based on establishing alliances with investment funds and developers, such as its recent collaboration with Bestinver, aimed at creating a 'socimi' (better known in English as a real estate investment trust, or REIT). The company's REIT with Bestinver is specialising in senior living, flex-living and purpose-built student accommodation. With this business model it has already formalised the acquisition of three plots of land and is in the due diligence phase for the purchase of four more in cities such as Santa Pola, Santiago, Madrid, Seville, Malaga and Barcelona.
"We actively collaborate with several investmentfunds and developers, identifying opportunities and helping with their business development. In fact, we are in negotiations with some funds to seal deals like the one we already have with Bestinver in other types of assets," says Sánchez. SmartRental focuses on the main provincial capitals of Spain and key tourist areas, but it is also present in other European cities such as Lisbon, Oporto and Budapest. "This year we have exceeded our growth target with more than 1,500 units signed."
SmartRental Group is looking to "acquire land and tertiary buildings [for instance former office blocks, warehouses, hotels...] in city centres in Spain, such as Madrid, Seville, Malaga, Barcelona and Bilbao", with the aim of developing innovative projects in the field of flex-living (short- and medium-term rentals). The company is also analysing several plots of land on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca to develop residential complexes for the elderly and continues to seek more opportunities in this type of asset, including in key university cities, through the acquisition of land and buildings for the development of university halls of residence. In parallel with this line of business, it is also active in the purchase of hotels and tourist accommodation in the main tourist cities.
In terms of international expansion, the company is in the process of analysing new possibilities in France, Italy, the UK and Germany.
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