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The ULI and real estate strategy: second homes and sustainability

“We contribute to stabilizing the economy of tourism destinations during the winter, with projects that meet foreigners’ demand for second homes,” explained Jesús Abellán, CEO of Arum Group, during his presentation.

Photo of the ULI session in which Arum Group’s Jesús Abellán participated, taken by the organization. Jesús Abellán, second from left, in the Living roundtable, with Alfonso Benavides representing ULI, Michael Allan from Common, and Samantha Kempe from INMO Investments Technologies.

Real estate experts point to the housing crisis as one of the political priorities in Spain. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), “10 years from now, we’ll need 120,000 units per year, and we are developing only 50,000,” said Alfonso Benavides, the former president of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and one of the moderators of their conference in Spain from June 15-16. The event in Madrid brought together more than 300 European real estate professionals under the theme “Transition and transformation of real estate. ” The meeting’s aim was to discuss strategy and the future of the sector, based on a commitment to the ethical and sustainable transformation of communities.

The demand for residences by foreign investors attracted by the Spanish climate and the possibility of remote work is evident. Arum Group addresses the needs of this market, “which also allows us to boost the economy in the area around our projects. Tourism towns are often empty in winter, and we contribute to employment stabilization in many service sectors because our clients extend their stay in Spain,” stated Abellán.

Arum Group specializes in creating tourism and residential or mixed-use destinations attractive to international visitors who want spacious homes in unique spaces where they can live, relax and work remotely, with numerous resort services and a wide range of gastronomy, sports and leisure options at hand. To this end, Arum Group designs, develops, structures and manages specific destinations that ensure the protection of the environment. “We cover almost all areas of the real estate spectrum, although we have specialized in recent years in urban tourism development, promoting second homes that are linked to other attractions related to a specific lifestyle,” said Abellán. In these projects, “Arum places the client at the center of its activity and we make it easy for them to enjoy complementary activities during their stay in Spain. Arum takes on this set of tasks, including maintenance services, rental management, and much more, to make life easier for the client.”

The ULI conference included various roundtables dedicated to key cross-cutting issues for the sector, such as city planning, trends in living, ESG, investment flows and the impact of technology on sector transformation.