Last Monday, April 7, in the framework the V Real Estate Talk organized by the Club Alumni Real Estate, the students of the Master's Degree in Real Estate Strategy and Business(MRE) of the postgraduate program of the University of Navarra in Madrid attended the lecture entitled 'Leadership and Real Estate in times of change'. The discussion paper was given by David MartinezCEO of AEDAS Homes, who gave a talk that was close, reflective and full of strategic vision.
Sofía Vanni, a Master's Degree student, shares her experience:
"With a realistic yet ambitious outlook, David Martínez clearly set out the three core topic ingredients that, in his opinion, could reactivate the supply of housing in Spain: land, capital and construction capacity. He explained that, although land availability and access to capital are obvious challenges, the biggest current bottleneck lies in the scarce capacity for execution. "If we had land and capital, we would still have a bottleneck in the ability to build," he noted. The lack of manpower, the sector's leave productivity and the excessive length of administrative procedures prevent an agile response to the growing demand. For this reason, he strongly defended the industrialization of construction processes and the simplification of urban planning licenses as necessary conditions to gain profitability, efficiency and time.
He stressed that the housing of the future will have to respond to new social and cultural demands. In this context, concepts such as flexibility in spaces, energy efficiency and, above all, adaptation to the local environment are key to designing truly livable products. "AEDAS teams are local because the real estate business is based on understanding the cultural, climatic and regulatory particularities of each area," he said, making it clear that success in this sector depends more on knowledge of the environment than on replicating universal models. He reinforced the idea that there is no single formula applicable to all markets.
One of the most valuable moments of the talk was when Martínez spoke about his academic training and professional career. He shared how his time at IESE Business School 's MBA program was a determining factor in acquiring tools that, years later, enabled him to face real and complex problems with solvency. "Executive training gave me a framework for making difficult decisions with clarity and confidence," he said, stressing the importance of a transversal vision and a solid foundation in management.
The talk not only provided a technical and economic overview of the sector, but also inspired from staff experience. From his beginnings as a civil engineer, to founding a development company and leading the IPO of AEDAS Homes, David Martinez shared valuable lessons in leadership, resilience and humility. He encouraged students to build their own " stafffranchise," a unique combination of knowledge, values and common sense that will guide them throughout their degree program .
Text written by: Sofía Vanni, student of the Master's Degree in Real Estate Strategy and Business.
