Metrovacesa develops with some thirty startups its new challenge ‘Sustainability applied to housing’

• The purpose of this forum is to promote innovation between research groups and companies, and also to contribute to improving competitiveness in the business sector
• The company will launch its new technological challenge “Sustainability applied to housing”, to which more than 28 startups have signed up
• This is the first time that a company devoted to real estate development has participated in this forum to develop projects focussed on sustainability of cities and promoting innovation

Madrid, 14 February 2019. Metrovacesa, Spain’s leading real estate developer, was a participant at the Transfiere Forum held in Malaga, on 13 and 14 February. The purpose of the meeting, one of the largest professional, multi-sector forums for the transfer of knowledge and technology, is to stimulate the competitiveness of a number of business sectors such as industry, the environment and ICTs.

The company presented a project to which it is firmly committed in terms of innovation: its new project for tokenization of assets. This project has started up with the sale of 73 dwellings in one of its developments, Residencial Birdie&Falcon, in the Almeria town of Pulpí. The system presented by Metrovacesa is based on a new way of selling housing using blockchain and allows someone to purchase a dwelling or a percentage of the ownership rights to it. This tokenized transaction is carried out in two stages: the first one focusses on the pre-reservation of the dwelling according to the investor’s interest in acquiring it, and the second stage is when the purchase of the asset is confirmed.

Metrovacesa is a pioneer in Spain in the development of a project of this calibre, for which it has formed an alliance with two partners of recognised prestige, the blockchain startup BrickEX and Grant Thornton. This alliance of three companies brings major international investors with a series of advantages in terms of transparency during the whole purchase process, flexibility and speed in the transaction.

Elsewhere, the company has recently launched Metrovacesa INVEST, the first 100% digital real estate portal designed for accredited investors in collaboration with SegoFinance, one of the leading Fintech groups in Spain regulated by the National Stock Exchange Commission (CNMV). This platform offers innovative promotions and investment opportunities through a simple process involving an online, encrypted investment room that allows secure and transparent operation.

Carmen Chicharro, Metrovacesa’s Director of Innovation and Marketing, emphasises that “we are in a world and an industry that are constantly changing as new technologies burst onto the scene. At Metrovacesa we consider that this situation is a great opportunity for the real estate sector and a great opportunity to merge synergies with other companies, which we will use to improve our relationship with our customers, make all the processes more flexible and offer an excellent quality of service”.

Commitment to sustainability

Metrovacesa will make the most of its participation at Transfiere to continue working towards its objective of being at the forefront of innovation in the real estate sector, and to find new projects and potential partners for sustainable development in its developments and thus contribute to improving cities. In this regard, the company is presenting its new technological challenge to the Andalusian entrepreneurial ecosystem “Sustainability applied to housing”. The project, led by Estefanía Alcarazo, the company’s Director of Projects and Sustainability, has already attracted more than 28 startups.

Estefanía Alcarazo states “I am proud to be able to lead a project of this prominence, which I am sure will allow us to find new partners and create new synergies with innovative companies  that will help us to promote the image of Metrovacesa as one of the sector’s leaders in sustainability”.

Metrovacesa will also be present in the Transfiere programme of content through the Open Innovation Area, where it will participate in the theme panel on Fintech and in the breakfast discussion Talent Woman by Transfiere & Alastria.

About Metrovacesa:

Metrovacesa is the leading real estate developer in Spain. With 100 years of history, its main business is the development and sale of residential properties, complemented by the development of commercial projects and active land management. It currently holds the largest developable land stock in Spain, with a total surface area of more than six million square metres of buildable space, facilitating the development of 38,000 homes nationwide. Its gross asset value (GAV) amounted to 2,686 million euros as of June 2018. Its geographical scope is both unique and balanced, with a particular emphasis on certain large cities. It also operates in leading tourist destinations and smaller cities that offer great potential. Metrovacesa, which began trading on the Continuous Market on 6 February 2018, boasts a team of 140 staff with extensive experience in the sector.