Good day, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Neinor Homes first-half 2022 results presentation. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please use the Q&A box available on the webcast link at any time during the conference. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, José Cravo. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. My name is José Cravo, and I'm the head of investor relations at Neinor Homes. Today, we are going to go through our first half results of the fiscal year 2022. As usual, we are here with our CEO, Borja García-Egotxeaga, and Jordi Argemí, our deputy CEO and CFO. We will start the presentation with the key highlights of the semester, then we will review the operational and financial performance of the business, and we shall finish with the main takeaways. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session to answer any questions you may have. Now I'll hand over the presentation to our CEO, Borja García-Egotxeaga.
Thank you, José. My first message today is that once again, we have published an excellent set of results, recording almost 1,200 houses delivered, EUR 400 million in revenues, EUR 60 million EBITDA, and almost EUR 40 million of net income in the first semester of this year. Moreover, until July, between dividends and buybacks, we have distributed EUR 130 million to our shareholders, implying a 13% yield, one of the highest in Spain and across Europe. The second message is that we are fully on track to meet this year guidance, with 96% sales coverage for 2022 and 100% of the construction sites to be finished by the month of September. We don't expect any delays in our construction sites.
The third message is on the development business, where we keep successfully managing the pace of sales through higher prices. During the second quarter, our net absorption rate stood up at 6.7%, the highest figure of the last 12 months. The cost increases in our construction sites are being offset with the ASP of our sales, so we can reiterate the margins expected in our business plan. Finally, my fourth message is on our rental platform, where we currently have more than 3,600 units in different stages of development that will generate more than EUR 40 million in rents once stabilized. We are quickly approaching the delivery stage, and over the next 18 months, we shall deliver more than 1,200 units.
In our building portfolio, we have seen an extraordinary commercialization performance with our first build-to-rent project, Hacienda Homes, that today is at 98% occupancy, while the service portfolio is at 97%. In the meantime, as we have communicated to the market, we continue in the search for the best way to crystallize the value of this business. Now follow me to slide number six. Here you have a summary of our main operational and financial KPIs. Let me just highlight that after the best first semester ever in the company, delivering nearly 1,200 units, we have 9,000 units already active and nearly 5,500 units under construction. These are among the highest operational figures we have ever recorded at Neinor and give us plenty of confidence on future earnings visibility for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Please move to the next section where we will analyze our business performance. As I said in introduction, commercialization environment continues to be very strong. In spite of macro uncertainty and price increases, we have had our best quarter in a year, showing the superior quality of Neinor's product. It's better than average affordability and a generalized lack of new home product in the markets where we operate. Year to date, the strongest region in terms of sales has been Corredor del Henares and Guadalajara, a strategic market for Neinor that is performing well ahead of our best expectations. Moving to next slide on acquisitions. As we have always said, Neinor follows a very disciplined and opportunistic investment strategy, and we have a proven track record in reading the cycle.
After a vintage year in 2021, this year, we haven't closed any new transactions so far, as we believe better opportunities are likely to come in the second semester and in 2023. Instead, we have focused on shareholder remuneration and approved the fourth buyback plan of the company since 2021. This year, we have invested another EUR 20 million in our own land bank, and this is the cheapest land that we can buy at this stage. Please follow me to slide number 10. Here we have a snapshot of our rental portfolio. As you can see, we have made a significant progress, and today we have 36 and 50 units in different stages of development, with CapEx fully financed, and that should generate a stabilized income of more than EUR 40 million.
In the next 18 months, we will see a significant step up in the deliveries curve with more than 1,200 units to hit the market. I would like to highlight that phase I of the most prime rental portfolio of the city of Barcelona, as in event, has been launched with 638 units across six buildings in prime areas of the city. On slide 11, you can see the financial performance of the seasoned portfolio. In service, please note that even though we have 97% occupancy, we continue to increase passing GRI as new contracts are coming with significantly higher rents of 16%.
Please note also that Sky Homes, that is 1,230 units in Valencia, will be delivered in the fourth quarter, and we will be delighted and proud if you accept our invitation for an asset tour during the fourth quarter. Now, I will hand over the presentation to Jordi to review the financial performance.
As Jorge said at the beginning, we have published another set of strong financial results that put us fully on track to deliver on our guidance for this year, 2022. Now, in slide 13, you have a summary of the key financial figures of this semester as well as the last 12 months. As you can see, top line grew 19% year-on-year to almost EUR 390 million, and this is due to a mix of higher development revenues, but also lower services due to the termination of the servicing contract with CaixaBank. At EBITDA level, we have reached EUR 60 million in a semester, and this means 3% above last year. This, remember, despite the servicing contract ended.
This EUR 60 million basically implies up to 40% of the annual objective, which, as you know, ranges EUR 140 million and EUR 160 million. I would say that we feel very comfortable to reach, once again, the annual target. Regarding net income, we have reached EUR 40 million. Basically, this is the same result of last year, if we exclude the margin coming from the build-to-rent of Hacienda Cabello. This year, the build-to-rent margin will come in the second semester with the delivery of Sky Homes. In terms of net debt position, we have closed with EUR 326 million, which means a reduction of 34%. This implies a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.2 x and a loan-to-value of 19%.
In the first semester, the company generated EUR 135 million of operational cash flow, one of the highest figures in our history. Finally, as in the previous quarters, the cash position remains very strong at EUR 300 million. Now, if we move to the next slide, we will zoom into the different business lines. The first semester of the development business line has been the best in the history of Neinor, with 1,178 units notarized, which basically means a growth of 32%. The implicit selling price stood at EUR 321,000. As you can see in the table, this means 8% below the level seen last year in 2021. Basically, this is due to the product mix effect of having more units from Quabit's portfolio.
The good thing here is that we are above the guidance that we stated at the beginning of this year. In total, this means development revenues reached EUR 378 million, and this basically means 21% growth. On the rental business line, you can see the GRI that stood at EUR 2.1 million. This basically means that we have doubled the level of last year, and this is thanks to the higher rents, but also the occupancy that has reached more than 90%. As Borja commented, the P&L of this business line will grow exponentially over the next quarter as we quickly approach deliveries of 3,000 rental pipeline. Overall, I would conclude saying that solid results from both business lines.
Thank you, Jordi. Let me please now just talk a little bit about the Spanish residential market. The supply of new houses has changed radically in Spain over the last 15 years, with a 90% decrease of the production since maximums. Moreover, in reality, in the last ten years, Spain is producing an average of less than 70,000 new houses per year. This is not enough to meet the annual needs, estimated between 120,000 and 150,000 new houses. The result is that in the last decade, Spain has generated a huge deficit of new houses that keeps accumulating and growing. As an example, today, Spain has half the supply per capita of Germany and one-third of France.
On leverage, we have seen a significant adjustment not only by banks, but also families and real estate companies. When cycles shift, what kills the real estate sector is oversupply and over-leverage. Today in Spain, we don't have one or the other. On slide 18, you can see the evolution of house prices in Spain, which are increasing at mid-high single digit%, but continue below the 2007 peak. On the other hand, other countries like Germany or U.K. prices have skyrocketed, and the key reason behind this has to do with the fact that the Spanish banks are now much more conservative in their mortgage policies, giving only 70% loan-to-value. This factor is limiting the demand and pushing lower equity buyers to the rental market. As a result, today, Spain is the fastest-growing rental market in Europe, as we can see in slide 19.
Build-to-rent is an emerging asset class, and over the next decade, Spain needs to produce 1 million of new rental homes, and this is a huge opportunity for Neinor. Until 2024, there are 20,000 units to be delivered in Spain, and Neinor represents approximately 10% of the total new supply for the market for rental. Now let's move please to the takeaways slide. I would like to conclude today's session by giving you four reasons why Neinor has been doing so well in operational terms, why our share price is delivering a 15% total return year-to-date, and why we believe we still have room to go. Reason number one has to do with fundamentals.
The Spanish residential market is today a safe haven worldwide, being under supplied and under leveraged, while house prices still look very cheap on a historical basis and relative to other countries. Reason number two is related to our strategy, which is unique in the Spanish residential sector. Our clients have the best affordability ratios, we own a quality land bank, produce an excellent product, and these are the reasons why we keep reselling so well. In addition, we own a rental portfolio, which allows us to diversify demand and two construction companies ready to tackle any problems we may run into and avoiding delays. The third reason is our highly disciplined capital allocation policy. We have a conservative loan-to-value of 19% and no refinancing risks until 2026. So far this year, we have halted new acquisitions and accelerated shareholder remuneration instead.
Finally, the fourth reason is Neinor's build-to-rent portfolio. As we have disclosed recently, we are currently working on different strategies to crystallize the value of the rental business, which is being overlooked by the market, and we expect this to be a very significant catalyst to our share price. This is it. Now we are ready to take any questions you may have. Thank you very much.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To ask a question via the telephone, please press star one and one. We will now take our first question. Please stand by. Your first question comes from the line of Florent Laroche-Joubert from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Hello, sir. Thank you very much for this presentation. I would have maybe two or three questions. First question, your monthly absorption rate is the highest in the previous month. How can we explain this, please? This is my first question. My second question would be maybe on your project to crystallize the rental business. You continue to analyze different strategies. Maybe you have some discussion. Is it possible to have maybe more color on that and on any timeline if it's possible?
My third question would be on your outlook for H2, given that we are still maybe in a constrained macro environment. What are your views? Thank you very much.
Okay. We are here with Mario Lapiedra Vivanco, our Chief Investment Officer that will take the first two questions.
Perfect. Thank you both. Well, regarding the absorption, it demonstrates the good demand that we have in our locations. We have a very healthy ratio in accordance with our peers. We have a lot of launches accumulated in the H2 of this year that will represent deliveries of 2024 and 2025. This is why the absorption rate has been so good in this quarter. In the H2, we will stabilize in the region of the 5%-6%. In the same time, what we are keeping is our disciplined strategy of HDA maximization. As you can see in our presentation, we are on track to beat that 6% target HPA that we have for the year.
We are combining both strategies to maximize the return for the company. Regarding the second one on the rental process, the point we reported is that we have received interest from different investors in our platform. We are having bilateral conversations with them, understanding and moving forward with different angles. We will keep you notified once we have decisions or steps, formal steps done.
Okay. Regarding the third question a little bit, what should we expect for the second part of the year? Regarding what is just the company, as I have said in my presentation, we have the construction sites are almost finished, all the constructions that we have for this year. Now during the summertime, all the constructions will be finished. In general, for the deliveries of this year, our approach is that we will be on track according to our business plan. The houses that we have to deliver for this year are so sold. From that point of view, we have resales now more than 90% for the deliveries of this year. From the point of view of the business of the company, we don't expect any surprise.
From the point of view of what's going to happen, okay, we have to wait and see, but we don't expect either inflationary construction costs or the trend that we had during the first semester is decreasing. Now, what we have seen of the cost of the construction that we're reaching between 8%-10% in the first semester are now decreasing. We expect that for the new launches that we are making, we will not have surprises either. Regarding the sales of houses, our expectations are so good. We have a very active commercial activity, as we have said.
Even though the environment, or the higher rates and so on, of banks could have a small impact in the business, we don't expect that our demand is going to be affected. We expect a good second part of the year.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question via the telephone, please press star one and one on your telephone keypad. Star one and one if you'd like to ask a question via the telephone. There are currently no further phone questions. I will hand the call back to you.
Thank you, operator. Now we'll go to the webcast platform. We have a couple of questions coming from here. One of them is on the dividend policy. We paid EUR 100 million of dividends this year. The question from that is being asked is what can we expect as a dividend policy in the coming years?
Okay. I take it, this one. As you know that our general policy now of dividend is 50% payout. It's true that we have a lot of cash position this year, and therefore we anticipated the EUR 50 million of 2023, you know, to be July. Both dividends have been already paid. This is what we have approved in our business plan. Nothing else, no? What is true is that at end of this year we will have a strong cash position again, and in that moment is the board who will decide, no, what to do with that cash. No news yet.
Also related with this question in terms of loan-to-value, you know, what can we expect for at the peak, loan-to-value for the company?
This also again, I mean, our policy was to be close to a 25% loan-to-value, more or less. This is a number that we should know during this year after all this dividend distribution is paid. But obviously it will depend on the land acquisition program. If we buy, we should be in those levels. If we postpone just to find good opportunities out there in the market, the loan-to-value might decrease.
We have a question on the pre-sales coverage for the year 2023 and 2024, for Mario. If you can tell us what's the targets that you have right now.
Yes. For 2023, we stand at 51%, as of now. For 2024, we are 60%-70%. The forecast by the end of the year is to reach 70% for 2024.
Thank you, Mario. We have a question on land acquisition. Since the fact that we didn't buy any land on the first semester, you know, what is the outlook that we can expect for the second half of the year and the year 2023?
Yeah. No. As we commented, we are always ready to jump into good opportunities. In the current macro context, we feel that opportunities are gonna be more concentrated in the second half of the year and in the coming quarters. On the contrary, we have a very strong land bank and a very strong business plan to fulfill on the operating. We are comfortable with our strategy, and we will keep very disciplined on the returns for our company.
One more question here on the build-to-rent portfolio. Just a clarification from the previous one. How much we are expecting to sell of this portfolio if eventually we sell anything?
No, we cannot comment on that information because it's very sensitive to the conversations that we are having.
Okay. Thank you, Mario. This was the last question coming on the webcast. Operator, unless you have anything on the phone line, we shall finish today's session.
There are no questions on the phone line.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Okay.
As always, we are at your disposal available for any questions you may have. We can take them on the phone or by email.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Have a good summer break.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.