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Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara and Inditex, has become the largest real estate magnate in the world with a fortune in real estate estimated at 25 billion dollars at current exchange rates, spread across more than 200 properties in 13 countries, according to a report published by Forbes this Tuesday.
The entrepreneur, who celebrated 90 years this past March, has built this empire through various companies, primarily Pontegadea, his main investment vehicle, which held properties worth 12.149 billion euros according to the latest available data from the Mercantile Registry.
This figure is further increased by another 2.889 million in Pontegadea GB 2020 and 3.675 million in Partler, raising the total recorded to over 18.700 million, not including the acquisitions of 2025 or the revaluation of the portfolio.
In 2025, a particularly active year, Ortega allocated 1.875 billion euros to nine real estate purchases across eight different countries, with two additional investments in Luxembourg whose amounts have not been disclosed.
The entrepreneur's strategy has been consistent since Inditex went public in 2001: to reinvest the millions in dividends received as the holder of 60% of the textile group's capital into high-quality real estate assets located on the main commercial streets of major cities around the world.
Among its most emblematic properties are the Torre Picasso and the Torre Moeve in Madrid, the Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto —its largest historical purchase, at 916 million dollars in 2022— and the Amazon headquarters in Vancouver acquired in 2025 for 855 million dollars.
In Europe, the acquisition of the property The Post, near Oxford Street in London and home to the consulting firm McKinsey, for 700 million euros stands out, and in Spain, the purchase of the Grupo Planeta headquarters in Barcelona for 250 million, the most significant transaction in the country since 2016.
In recent years, Ortega has diversified his portfolio beyond offices and retail spaces, venturing into logistics, luxury rental housing, and port infrastructure, such as the acquisition of 49% of the British company PD Ports and, by 2026, a stake in the Australian group Qube.
His real estate portfolio surpasses that of the two largest Spanish real estate companies combined —Merlin Properties, with 12.63 billion, and Colonial SFL, with 12.203 billion— and that of the previously considered largest individual real estate magnates in the world: the Australian Harry Triguboff (23.2 billion dollars) and the American Donald Bren (19.2 billion dollars).
Ortega also holds the tenth position in the overall wealth ranking by Forbes, with a total net worth estimated at 148 billion dollars (125.450 billion euros), mainly due to the value of his shares in Inditex.
In 2026, the billionaire will receive over 3.2 billion euros in dividends from Inditex's record profits in 2025, which is expected to fuel new acquisitions and further solidify his position as the largest private real estate owner on the planet.
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