Ktesios expands to Portugal

 In Construction, Consultancy, News, Real Estate

The problem of providing new-build middle and lower middle class homes for affordable rent in Portugal may be one step closer to being solved.

The Spanish company Ktesios, which has specialised in the real estate market for over 15 years and has a Lisbon office, is to replicate its strategy in Spain by investing in houses for accessible rents outside Lisbon.
“We will invest where no one else wants to invest,” Ktesios CEO Henry Gallego told the online news source ECO. The aim is to “create cities around capital cities” where it is viable to charge rents of €350 to €400 since development is “more complicated” in the centre of Lisbon.
Gallego says that Portugal has a lot of potential as a market and that Ktesios is already in contact with various institutions to find the best business opportunities. However, this takes time and the company says it want to grow in a sustainable way.
Ktesios currently has 258 properties but aims to have 2,500. “It’s an ambitious plan,” says Henry Gallego.
The company operates on a SOCIMI (REITS) model, meaning a real estate investment vehicle. Its headquarters is in Spain.
Now in Portugal, it is considering teaming up with a SIGI (REIT) managed by Sonae Sierra and Bankinter. “Never say never” says Henry Gallego when asked by ECO about the possibility, pointing out that Portuguese legislation has come on in leaps and bounds regarding real estate investment trusts.
Ktesios describes itself as a residential housing SOCIMI (SIGI in Portuguese) with a social impact. It only invests in residential assets on the outskirts of cities with large populations, but cities that have a favourable economic impact, meaning employment and industry.
“What we seek to do is offer homes for affordable long-term rent aimed at the working class which is the vast majority of the population.
“We are also different because unlike other institutional SOCIMIs which invest in prime property areas in large cities, we invest in outlying areas where no one else wants to invest, but where we see lots of potential,” concludes Henry Gallego.