According to the Asociación Española de
Leasing (AEL), the trade association for the country’s leasing
industry, new investments in leasing decreased from €21.5 billion
in 2007 to €14.2 billion at the end of last year.
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The drop concerned both real estate leasing,
which fell from €3.7 billion to €2.5 billion, and equipment and
vehicle leasing – traditionally combined into one single category
known as “leasing mobiliario” – which declined from €17.7 billion
to €11.6 billion.
Real estate leasing as a percentage of the
total of assets remained unchanged at 18 percent. Also unchanged,
at 3 percent of the total, was IT and office equipment, while
medical equipment represented 1 percent.
Air and sea transport leasing shrank from 17
percent to 8 percent, and vehicle leasing fell from 19 percent to
17 percent.
The total number of new contracts declined by
36 percent, but the number of real estate leasing contracts almost
halved.
The vehicle rental and operating leasing
sector, which is separately monitored by the Asociación Española de
Renting de Vehículos (EAR), has also been hit by the downturn.
According to EAR, which includes arms of
international companies providing operating leases such as GE
Capital, LeasePlan, Fraikin and ING Car Lease, the sector has
stopped growing “for the first time in its history”.
It said that there has been a decrease of 10.4
percent to 181,833 units in the number of vehicle purchases from
rental companies, compared to 202,910 in 2007.
The most active sectors for the leasing of
vehicles last year, according to the association, were the
wholesale trade sector, and the pharmaceutical and manufacturing
industries.
Antonio Fabrizio
