VIC Properties abandons Project Rise sale
The real estate developer VIC Properties has decided to withdraw from the sale of what could have been one of the biggest property deals in Portugal in 2023.
It has withdrawn both the Prata Riverside Village and Herdade da Matinha (Project Rise) developments — both in Lisbon – and is also preparing to withdraw Herdade Pinheirinho development in the Alentejo at Grândola according to the news site ECO citing a market insider.
The Prata (Parque das Nações) and Matinha (Marvila) developments will not be sold as a package, while VIC would sell Pinheirinho should a sufficiently attractive offer appear. However, according to news site ECO sources, the developer will also take Pinheirinho off the market if, as in the other cases offers made do not match up with the benchmark value that VIC set for negotiations.
The sale of the three developments would have been the biggest lot sale of apartments for marketing and resale of apartments and houses in recent memory, with the three assets valued at around €1.1Bn.
VIC contacted around 80 potential investors, having received around 20 non-binding offers from both national and international investors, but all the offers fell below the company’s expectations.
On December 22 VIC shareholders looked at the offers they’d received, but the various real estate sources who spoke to ECO were of the opinion that VIC’s expectations were unrealistic and were not in line with the prospective buyers’ offers for the three developments.
Moreover, it was recognised that local buyers were out of the question since there simply isn’t the capital available in Portugal for purchases of such a magnitude.
VIC has apparently decided to withdraw the developments from sale and will continue to develop them until completion when there will be 3,000 apartments available for sale.
The lack of offer in the Portuguese residential market, particularly in Lisbon is one of the reasons why VIC Properties has decided to hold onto the two developments in the capital.