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Valencia, a City Told Through Its Buildings

#### Valencia, a City Told Through Its Buildings

Valencia is not only Spain’s third most populated city: it is also a mosaic of eras that can be read in the age of its housing stock. From the modernist movement of the early 20th century to the residential blocks of the 1970s, and more recently the revitalization of its historic center and maritime façade, the city tells its own story through architecture.

#### The Weight of the 20th Century in Valencia’s Housing Stock

The average age of Valencia’s housing is **55 years**, with an average construction year of **1970**. This figure reflects the major urban push of the second half of the 20th century, when tourism and demographic growth fueled rapid construction.

-	**Historic center**: average building age of **64 years**, dating back to around 1961. Here, modernism, rationalism, and art déco dominate, symbols of a city eager to project modernity.
-	**Periphery**: much younger, with an average age of **46 years**. Neighborhoods such as Benicalap, Torrefiel, and Nou Moles expanded during the 1970s and 80s with functional housing estates and collective residential blocks adapted to a growing population.

#### Urban Trends: From the Periphery to the Sea

Until the late 1990s, the **periphery** absorbed most of the construction boom. Cheaper land and demographic pressure pushed growth towards the outskirts and areas near the port.

But from the **2000s** onwards, urban trends shifted:

- **Historic center**: neighborhoods like Ruzafa or El Carmen moved from decline to becoming cultural, gastronomic, and residential hubs thanks to rehabilitation and gentrification.
- **Coastal areas**: from El Cabanyal to La Malvarrosa, Valencia’s maritime façade gained prominence through urban projects tied to major events (America’s Cup, Formula 1) and a renewed tourism push.

#### The Impact of Climate Risks on Urban Planning

The urban evolution of Valencia cannot be understood without the extreme climatic events that shaped its recent history.

-	In **1957**, the catastrophic Turia flood caused the river to overflow after torrential rains, killing **81 people** and destroying entire neighborhoods. This disaster forced the city to rethink itself: the Turia riverbed was diverted out of the urban core, creating today’s Jardín del Turia.
-	In **1982**, the **Tous dam collapse** again revealed the vulnerability of the region: more than 30 people died and material losses were severe.
-	More recently, episodes like the **2024 DANA storm** have highlighted that flooding risk remains one of the city’s greatest planning challenges. Climate change will likely increase the frequency of such events.

Today, the integration of climatic, historical, and urban data is essential to design more resilient cities. Platforms like Accumin Intelligence make it possible to anticipate scenarios, cross-check territorial data, and plan safer, more sustainable urban developments.

#### A City Reinvented in Cycles

The evolutionary map of Valencia (1800–2025) reveals three key phases:
1. A **compact historic core**, preserving the city’s heritage.
2. An **expansive periphery** during the 1960s–80s, when Valencia grew at an unprecedented pace.
3. The **return to the center and the coast** in the 21st century, where tradition and modernity now converge.

#### Architecture and Resilience as Urban Identity
Valencia’s building history is also the story of its identity:
- from a traditional Mediterranean city,
- to a modern metropolis with expanding neighborhoods,
- to a place that revalues its heritage while facing the challenges of climate resilience.


Walking through Valencia today means exploring an urban narrative where each façade, each neighborhood, and each decade leaves its mark—while the memory of past floods reminds us that architecture not only beautifies, but also protects.

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Urban Evolution of Valencia: How the City Has Changed Through Its Buildings

Barcelona: A City Built in Stone. Discover the Urban Fabric That Time Has Shaped

#### When were the buildings that make up today’s Barcelona constructed?

This animated map reveals how the city has grown over more than two centuries.

#### Barcelona: Urban memory with the power to reinvent itself

With an average building age of 66 years, Barcelona’s housing stock is a blend of architectural heritage and constant renewal. 45% of current homes were built before 1960, and over a third are located in central areas—where history is etched into every façade.

But this is not a city trapped in time. From Poblenou to 22@ and La Marina, Barcelona proves that cities can reshape themselves without losing their essence.

#### From medieval blocks to digital superblocks

-	**Before the Cerdà Plan (1859)**, life in Barcelona was tightly packed inside the old city walls. Narrow streets and multi-storey buildings defined Ciutat Vella. The implementation of the Plan de Reforma y Ensanche marked a revolution. The Eixample was born: open, rational, and full of light. Ildefons Cerdà didn’t just design a grid—he invented a discipline: urban planning. His octagonal layout, chamfered corners and strategic use of green space remain a global reference.

-	**Between 1940 and 1980**, districts like Horta-Guinardó, Sant Martí, Nou Barris and Les Corts expanded rapidly, giving rise to Barcelona’s modern residential belt.

-	**Since the 2000s**, urban regeneration has taken centre stage. From Diagonal Mar to Glòries or the reimagined coastline, the city is committed to sustainability, innovation and spatial redesign.

#### What does the year built reveal about each neighbourhood?

-	**Historic core – Ciutat Vella, Raval, Gòtic, Eixample Antic**
With an average age of 80 years, these districts embody Barcelona’s architectural legacy—and the challenge of large-scale refurbishment.

-	**Peripheral areas – Sant Andreu, Nou Barris, Sants-Montjuïc, Sant Martí**
Averaging 52 years, these neighbourhoods offer functional layouts and high potential for transformation.

-	**Emerging zones – 22@, Diagonal Mar, Marina del Prat Vermell**
These are the districts of tomorrow: efficient, digital and sustainability-driven.


#### Conclusion: Every building is a layer of time

In Barcelona, knowing the year a building was constructed reveals the hidden logic of urban evolution. Each neighbourhood tells a unique story—defined by its origin, growth cycles and capacity to adapt.
At Accumin Intelligence, we analyse these patterns with precision to help investors, planners and institutions make smarter decisions—grounded in data and focused on the future.


Because when you see the city clearly, you can shape it with purpose.

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Barcelona: a city built in Stone. Discover the urban fabric that time has shaped

Urban Evolution of Madrid: Discover the City's Construction History with This Striking Animated Map

#### Madrid never stands still

Its ever-changing skyline proves it—but it’s the data that tells the real story. To understand how the city has evolved, we’ve created an animated map that visualises Madrid’s urban growth, from the historic core to the newest developments.

Madrid: Urban growth at the pace of the 20th century.

More than 60% of Madrid’s current housing stock was built between 1960 and 1990. This was the city's most intense period of urban expansion, when districts like Carabanchel, Vallecas, Tetuán and Usera flourished, fuelled by economic growth and mass internal migration.

#### A brief history of Madrid’s urban planning: from walled town to modern metropolis

Madrid’s urban journey is deeply rooted in its past:

- 	**Until 1860**, it was a compact city of under 300,000 residents, confined within the “Cerca de Felipe IV”—today’s Madrid de los Austrias.

- 	**The Castro Plan (1860)** marked the beginning of the city’s expansion beyond its walls, introducing new boulevards and rational street grids in neighbourhoods like Chamberí, Salamanca, Moncloa and Arganzuela.

- 	**Between 1930 and 1970**, Madrid’s population soared—from one to over three million—leading to the creation of large peripheral neighbourhoods such as Usera, Aluche, Vallecas and Carabanchel.

- 	**From the 2000s onward**, residential developments like Sanchinarro, Las Tablas, Montecarmelo and Ensanche de Vallecas emerged, designed with modern living standards and energy efficiency in mind.

Today, Madrid faces new challenges and ambitions, from major urban projects like Madrid Nuevo Norte and Campamento to urgent priorities in mobility, sustainability, and balancing the needs of residents and tourists.


#### Madrid’s neighbourhoods by age and urban profile

-	**Historic Centre** – _Lavapiés, Malasaña, Chamberí:_
These areas host buildings over 80–100 years old, preserving the city's architectural heritage and dense street layouts.

-	**Mid-century belt** – _Moratalaz, Ciudad Lineal, Fuencarral:_
Developed during the 20th-century housing boom, with uniform building types and functional urban design.

-	**New developments** – _Valdebebas, Ensanche de Vallecas, Sanchinarro:_
Built for the 21st century, they combine green spaces, energy-efficient design and digital connectivity.


### Conclusion: Understanding the past to shape the future

One of the most striking insights from the animated map is the contrast in building age across the city. In central districts, the average building is 89 years old, while in peripheral areas, it drops to just 37 years. This gap highlights the need for targeted urban policies around renovation, energy efficiency and sustainable planning.

At Accumin Intelligence, we analyse this data through predictive models to anticipate future challenges. We help cities like Madrid grow smarter, sustainably—and with clarity.

Because every building tells a story. And from those stories, we design tomorrow.

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Tinsa Digital, Deyde DataCentric and urbanData Analytics Join Forces as Accumin Intelligence

##### The new company brings together Accumin’s expertise in data quality, data solutions, real estate intelligence and artificial intelligence.

Accumin, the global group specializing in real estate valuation and consultancy, software, and data intelligence, has consolidated its worldwide data, insights, and AI operations into a new company: **Accumin Intelligence**.

This new entity unifies the capabilities and innovation of three leading Spanish companies: **Deyde**, a benchmark in data quality, geolocation, and validation; **DataCentric**, experts in large-scale data management, enrichment and geomarketing; and **urbanData Analytics (uDA)**, a proptech company focused on real estate analytics and solutions. It also includes the **automated valuation model (AVM)** operations of **Tinsa Digital**, as well as Germany-based **on-geo**.



“Accumin Intelligence positions us as the go-to data, real estate intelligence, and geospatial analytics company across Europe and Latin America,”

With a team of 120 professionals, Accumin Intelligence reflects the next step in the group’s transformation—an evolution marked by the global launch of the **Accumin** brand identity in September 2024, previously known as the Tinsa Group.

“Accumin Intelligence positions us as the go-to data, real estate intelligence, and geospatial analytics company across Europe and Latin America,” says **Manuel Hurtado**, Global Head of Accumin Intelligence. “For the first time, the innovative solutions developed by different companies unite under a single vision—delivering business-ready intelligence that helps organizations across all industries optimize operations, reduce risk and maximize asset value.”

Accumin Intelligence’s solutions go beyond real estate. They are trusted by leading companies across multiple sectors, including **Vodafone, IKEA, Allianz, MAPFRE, Naturgy, Santander** and **CaixaBank**.

“By integrating our data, analytics, and AI teams, we can build custom-fit, next-generation tools that empower smarter decision-making—driven by data that is both reliable and uniquely market-specific,” adds Hurtado.

To mark the launch, two powerful new solutions are now available:
- **AccuMate**: An advanced platform for real estate portfolio management with integrated market analytics.
- **Accumin Data House**: A real-time hub for accessing the company’s full data universe and AI models.


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How could the current trade war impact the real estate market?

##### Direct estimated impact in main macroeconomic indicators

Tariffs announced by the Trump Administration on April have caused a drop in global growth expectations. The most recent IMF reference forecast projects a fall in global real GDP growth from prior estimate of 3,3 % to 2,8% in 2025 and from 3,3 % to 3,0 % in 2026 (a cummulative downgrade of -0,8 pp). 

This fall affects advanced economies, emerging markets and developing countries with different intensity, depending on their economic momentum and the supply shock imposed by the new tariffs, being overall more damaging for the United States and Asia (especially China) and less damaging for Europe. For Latin America and the Caribbean, the growth forecast is downgraded -0,5 pp down to 2,0 % in 2025 and -0,3 pp down to 2,4 % in 2026, largely due to Mexico, where demand was weaker than expected in late 2024 and the impact of tariffs imposed by the United States is higher than in other countries of the region. 

At the same time, global headline inflation is expected to decline at a slower pace than stated by prior IMF estimates, reaching 4,3 % in 2025 and 3,6 % in 2026 (vs. January estimate of 4,2 % in 2025 and 3,5 % in 2026), due to relevant upward revisions in advanced economies, especially in the United States, that offset the slight downward revisions in emerging and developing countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean, inflation is expected to decrease by -0,3 pp as the upwards revisions for Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela are offset by downwards revisions in all other countries. Likewise, in Asia expected inflationary pressures are soft and the IMF reviews its projection downwards by -0,5pp.

##### Estimated impact in monetary policy

Despite a slowdown in the decline of inflation of advanced economies, it is still expected that both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will continue to reduce interest rates. The pace at which both central banks apply the reductions, however, is likely to differ due to their different economic momentums.

Headline inflation in the European Union reached 2,4 % in 2024, declining faster from the 2022 peak than the United States, which reached 3,0 % in 2024 driven by above-average private consumption. While in the EU inflation is expected to reach its target during 2025, in the US a stanflation scenario is feared as prices resist to fall despite weaker demand in 2025 and tariffs generate new upward tensions in prices.

As a result, the IMF estimates the federal funds rate to decline to 4,0 % at the end of 2025 and reach the long-term equilibrium of 2,9 % by the end of 2028.In the European Union, the IMF reference forecast expects policy rate to reach the 2,0 % target by mid-2025.
Indirect impacts

Additionally to the direct supply shock that the announced tariffs generate in international trade, there are other indirect impacts that might drag growth in affected economies, related to policy uncertainty, trade wars and geopolitical tensions that undermine investor and consumer confidence.

##### Potential impact in real estate

Real estate is a pro-cyclical sector and an estimated global growth economic slowdown mixed with increased policy uncertainty might moderate aggregate real estate activity. However, the impact will differ by countries depending on their economic momentum as well as the magnitude of the tariff hit, and some markets might seize opportunities for investment.

**First, tariffs have a direct impact on the cost of imported materials, which increases construction costs.** The highest hit in overall construction cost could be expected to affect the United States, since it imports several construction materials from taxed countries and industries. This might generate an increase in real estate prices for new homes and a subsequent slowdown in local market activity, caused, on the one hand, by the aggravation of housing affordability that weakens demand, and on the other hand, by increased project costs for investors and industrial developers that might delay taking on new projects and reduce general construction activity in the region. In the meantime, Europe and other countries might strenghten their trade networks and try to benefit from cheaper third-party imports in these particular materials (although the free trade alteration will in all cases lead to sub-optimal exchanges). Due to policy uncertainty, it is yet to be seen whether this would be enough to offset potential retaliation of tariffs in other sectors that might cause an additional drag in the economy.

**Second, tariffs have an impact on inflation that feeds the decoupling of monetary policies between countries.** Inflationary pressures have proven to be stubborn in the United States during 2024 and these tariffs feed higher prices, which in turn might force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, making access to credit more expensive and difficult. On the contrary, the lower interest rates expected in the European Union during 2025 in combination with above-average private savings in the region and the ongoing recovery of households purchasing power might keep stimulating real estate demand. 

**Third, uncertainty and fluctuations in foreign exchange rate related to tariffs might impact investment decisions.** In this context, investors might look at Europe as a more stable trustworthy partner, which together with aceptable growth prospects for 2026 based on signs of stronger consumption and a projected fiscal easing in Germany might attract foreign capital. Within Europe, Spanish real estate could continue to be an interesting destination for foreign investors given its lower relative prices, especially in the residential segment.

These tariffs have been argued by the Trump Administration to be a tool to reduce trade deficit in the United States, but this effect seems unlikely. According to economic theory, the increased price of imports imposed by US tariffs would imply a reduction in the demand of foreign goods in the United States, which would reduce trade deficit if exports remained unchanged. However, these effects disappear with the retaliation from other countries that impose tariffs of their own, hence decreasing exports from United States and eliminating the desired trade deficit reduction. 

In the meantime, the geopolitical landscape is being reshaped and volatility in the markets is likely to remain high while negotiations are ongoing and trade is being rebalanced. In this context, real estate might continue to act as an alternative shed from uncertainty and inflationary pressures in certain regions, while in others it might suffer a slowdown. 


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