MADRID, Spain – The government of Pedro Sánchez has sold buildings, homes and other public properties worth more than 220 million euros to Grupo Lar, funds managed by BlackRock and various real estate and construction companies since arriving at Moncloa, according to the awards analysed by OKDIARIO.
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The figure is deliberately conservative. The calculation includes only operations whose amount and winning bidder could be identified and leaves out the numerous tenders called during these years whose outcome is not sufficiently clear. It also does not incorporate Sareb sales, despite the state having controlled the company since 2022.
The largest operation identified is the sale of the old Ministry of Finance complex at number 50 María de Molina, in one of Madrid’s most sought-after areas. The state awarded the property in September 2023 for 204.7 million euros to Barnaby Investments, a Grupo Lar company, after receiving six offers. The starting price was 156 million, meaning the winning proposal exceeded it by more than 48 million. The operation was eventually formalised in August 2024 by Grupo Lar and funds managed by BlackRock through a joint venture. The fate of the former public building will be very different from what it had for decades, with the project envisaging 153 luxury homes and a private student residence with some 400 beds. Socimi Inbest later joined the project, acquiring a 30 per cent stake. The total investment planned to transform the old Finance complex is around 400 million euros, and the homes began selling from about 650,000 euros.
El Gobierno de Sánchez ha vendido a Lar, BlackRock y grandes inmobiliarias edificios públicos por más de 220 millones desde 2018. https://t.co/gXvreCv8uB
— okdiario.com (@okdiario) September 28, 2026
The María de Molina case accounts for most of the more than 220 million counted, but it is not the only one. The General Treasury of Social Security has also sold numerous public properties to private companies during Sánchez’s governments, with several awards in Madrid in 2021 alone showing operations worth around 4.6 million euros. Among them are properties on Cavanilles, Diego de León, Fernando el Católico and Escosura streets, with winning bidders including Inversiones Inmobiliarias Darofen, Cysmad Soluciones Constructivas, Goco Patrimonio, Triunf Consulting, Resces 45 Investment and Promociones Inmobiliarias Encinas Quinzano. Cysmad Soluciones Constructivas paid 900,000 euros for a property at Diego de León 35, Triunf Consulting 752,000 euros for another asset, Promociones Inmobiliarias Encinas Quinzano paid 520,000 euros for another property at Escosura 3, and different homes on Cavanilles were awarded for amounts ranging from approximately 346,000 to 456,000 euros.
The sales have continued since, with another Treasury real estate operation awarded in 2024 to Crismael for 5.03 million euros, plus five awards of properties at Narciso Serra 20 to LV Encinas Quinzano, Promociones Inmobiliarias Encinas Quinzano and Crismael, with the five lots adding another 2.5 million euros through individual operations of between 386,000 and 570,000 euros. The sum of these verified operations alone, together with María de Molina, comfortably exceeds the 220 million euro threshold.
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The real amount of property sold since 2018 is higher, with the 220 million not intended to represent all the properties disposed of by all state administrations and bodies during the eight years of Sánchez’s governments. The Directorate General of State Heritage has continued to bring to market buildings, homes, premises, plots and land considered unnecessary for public use or service. In May 2024 alone, for example, the Treasury called a tender for ten state-owned lots in Madrid, Somosierra and Estremera, including a building on Santorcaz street initially valued at 2.19 million and a duplex of more than 400 square metres built on Fuencarral 8 in the heart of Madrid. Months later, in October, Heritage again put out to tender another six lots from the General State Administration.
OKDIARIO does not incorporate these assets into the calculation because the government putting a building out to tender does not mean it is ultimately sold, and only those operations whose outcome allows an award to be accredited have been counted to establish the minimum of 220 million. For the same reason, Sareb operations are excluded. The state took majority control of the so-called bad bank in 2022 and since then Sareb has carried out significant real estate sales, but its assets come mainly from those transferred by financial institutions after the banking crisis and cannot be legally equated with the patrimony of the General State Administration.
Among them is, for example, the 2023 sale to Metrovacesa of rights over land at Los Cerros in Madrid, with capacity to develop around 1,100 homes, an operation not included in the 220 million, as is the sale of Sareb’s own Madrid headquarters to Grupo Bancalé despite occurring when the company was already state-controlled. The criterion thus establishes a particularly prudent floor: more than 220 million euros in public properties sold to Grupo Lar, funds managed by BlackRock and various real estate and construction companies during Pedro Sánchez’s governments. The María de Molina operation sums up the phenomenon: a property used by the Treasury for years was sold for 204.7 million euros and ended up in a project promoted by Grupo Lar and funds managed by BlackRock to build luxury homes and a private student residence in the heart of Madrid.
