(AOF) – Klépierre announces that S&P Global has raised its rating outlook from stable to positive and revised its assessment of Klépierre’s liquidity profile to raise it from “adequate” to “solid”. This decision by the rating agency comes after the finalization of the acquisition of RomaEst, one of the largest shopping centers in Rome, the second external growth operation of the year for the real estate specialist in the sector. On May 24, 2024, Fitch confirmed its ‘A-‘ rating with stable outlook on Klépierre’s senior unsecured debt.
S&P Global expects the company to improve its debt-to-Ebitda ratio to 7.5 or lower, thanks to its strong operating results and prudent financial policies.
The positive outlook indicates that the rating agency could upgrade the rating in the next 12 to 24 months if Klépierre’s operational performance remains strong, if its portfolio valuations remain relatively stable and if the company does not resort to oversized acquisitions financed by debt beyond our base case.
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A demand crisis
According to data from the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), the figures for the third quarter of 2022 continue to be alarming. Sales of new collective housing fell by 12.4% over one year, to 19,006 units. Over the first nine months of 2022, the drop reached 10.2%, to 72,670 units.
Reservations are also plummeting due to the collapse of block sales to social landlords and institutional investors. With interest rates rising, institutional investors are renegotiating or halting operations. First-time buyers are penalized by the rise in rates and the tightening of the Pinel system puts off certain private investors.
Due to the sharp rise in construction costs, the FPI estimates that one in six authorized operations is ultimately not carried out for economic reasons.
Faced with this, prices are still rising: the sales prices of new collective housing increased by 5.9% across France in the third quarter of 2022. Ile-de-France is an exception, with a decrease of 0. 9%.