LAS SOCIEDADES COTIZADAS DE INVERSIÓN INMOBILIARIA: UN NUEVO INSTRUMENTO IMPULSOR DEL MERCADO INMOBILIARIO Y DE ALQUILER EN ESPAÑA.

Abstract

In a context that is a crisis rather than mere economic recession, and one that is resounding throughout the real estate and financial markets, our country's legislators trust that Act 21/2009's introduction of listed real estate investment companies in our financial system will help reach two objectives of economic and social policy that are important if we are to overcome the current economic situation. The first objective is to provide incentive for and reactivate investment in real estate. The second is to boost the rental property market in Spain by facilitating access to real estate use through renting as an alternative to buying. Through these companies, developers and financial institutions alike could find a way other than sales to get their property out on the market. The supply in the Spanish rental property market could be increased, and the quality and professional calibre of the market could be improved. Small and medium-sized investors could find a secure long- and medium-term financial product. And, most of all, citizens could more easily exercise their right to decent, suitable housing under article 47 of the Constitution, insofar as one trusts that these firms will contribute toward a more-professionalized, more-efficient, more-transparent rental market. These are the important expectations that have been placed upon listed real estate investment companies. This paper looks at the role such companies play in the real estate and rental property market, their possibilities in comparison to those of other, similar concepts (such as collective investment institutions that deal only in real estate), the assets that listed real estate investment companies may hold and the unique features posed by the leasing of assets by companies of this sort.