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Property Foreclosures Decreased By 12.5% In The Second Quarter

4 September 2015 – El Economista

Seizures of property to be sold after defaulting on a mortgage, known as “foreclosures”, decreased by 12.5% in the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2014, to stand at 28,925.

According to the data released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE), foreclosures were also down compared to the previous quarter, by 6.5%. Of all the foreclosed properties, 8,675 were habitual residences of the owners, 10.2% less than in January-June 2014.

Taking as reference family homes that existed in Spain at the end of the second quarter of 2015, a number of 18.367,2 million, 0.047% initiated foreclosure between January and June this year.

Also, the data from the first semester of this year show that foreclosures on homes account for 59.6% of the total.

Habitual residences

30% of all property foreclosures were among common dwellings of individuals; 21.1% corresponded to dwellings of legal entities, and 8.5% to other dwellings of individuals. Foreclosures of premises, garages, offices, storage rooms, warehouses, residential buildings, other buildings and urban land use represented 31.2% of the total.

As follows from this data, of all property foreclosures conducted before the end of June 86.5% were existing homes, and 13.5% were new ones. Foreclosures on the latter reduced by 14.1% compared to a year earlier, while those affecting existing homes fell by 9.9%.

As for the antiquity of the mortgage that weighed on the foreclosed property, the data from National Statistics Institute show(s) that 21.9% of initiated foreclosures corresponded to mortgages begun in 2007; 15.6% to 2006, and 12% to 2008.

The period of 2005-2008 comprises, in turn, 60.9% of the foreclosures initiated in the first half of 2015.

Andalusia leads

By region, the highest number of foreclosures on all types of estate fell again on Andalusia, with 8,436, followed by Valencia (4,967) and Catalonia (4,698). On the other hand, those that registered lowest number were La Rioja, 93, Navarra, 146,  and the Basque Country with 162.

In the case of foreclosures on homes, Andalusia again is at the top of the list, with 4,676; followed by Catalonia, with 3,246, and Valencia, with 3,080. These communities were the ones with the highest record in the first semester.

By contrast, those with the lowest record of such foreclosures were La Rioja, with 51; Basque Country, with 93, and Navarra, with 105.

Original story: El Economista

Translation: Lee La