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Santander creates a subsidiary to speed up the sale of properties.

Santander wishes to speed up the sale of its portfolio of properties with a new organization of this activity. For this reason it has founded a new subsidiary, Altamira Real Estate Distribution, which will be in charge of the commercialization of these products.

The new institution takes on all commercial competences which until now had been in the hands of the real estate company of the group, Altamira Real Estate, which will from now on concentrate on administrative tasks.

The subsidiary starts with a capital of 2,5 million Euros. Its president, Eduardo Quintana, holds the same position in the real estate company of the group, but the members of the board are different in the two institutions.

The target of Altamira Real Estate Distribution is to reach a greater specialization in the sale of properties, one of the main objectives of the group.

The requirements of efficiency when getting rid of this type of assets are greater after the entrance of Sareb into the market. , which has received properties from the weaker institutions and that will progressively get rid of them in the next fifteen years. Anyhow,  the institution declares that Sareb is not a direct competitor and will not condition its offer, as both institutions target different markets.

Santander offers 8766 new and second hand properties in the website of Altamira Real Estate, scattered around Spain. Valencia, with 841, is the city with more assets. Las Palmas, with 72 and Barcelona with 640, follow.

The institution has launched a campaign with discounts of 25% on the market price. These discounts are a constant in most real estate subsidiaries from banks in order to adjust to the market situation and the fall of prices.

Santander sold last year 33500 properties with a discount of 51%. These operations reduced its exposure to the construction business (12500 million Euros in 2012 from the 24900 million Euros at the end of 2011) after the effort in provisions carried out by the institution.

During the first quarter of 2013, the bank has gotten rid of 4500 properties and its target is to close the year with the sale of 20000.

Altamira Real Estate, the bad bank of Santander, had losses of 609 million Euros last year and the group carried out a capital extension of 987 million Euros in order to restore its financial situation. The capital of the real estate company after these operations reaches 1112 million Euros.

The group has contributed to the social housing fund with 590 properties to rent. Santander has contributed with 441 and Banesto, with 149.

The fund has 5981 properties scattered around 33 financial institutions, the rural saving banks included. Bankia is the one that has contributed more, with thousand properties, followed by BBVA, with nine hundred properties, and Caixabank with a total of 943.

This method was created at the beginning of the year with the drive of several Ministries, the Bank of Spain and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities.

Source: Expansión