Category: NPL & REO

The Supreme Court Annuls the Sale of 3,000 VPO Flats to Goldman Sachs and Azora

The Supreme Court of Justice has rejected the appeal by the Community of Madrid for the sale of the officially protected homes to the fund Goldman Sachs and to Azora in 2013, during the Government of Ignacio González.

The Supreme Court has put paid to the Community of Madrid’s last-ditch attempt by making effective the nullity of the sale of 2,935 officially protected homes (VPOs) to the fund Goldman Sachs in 2013.

In a resolution issued on 9 March, the Third Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court deemed inadmissible the appeal from the regional government against the ruling dated 12 December 2019, according to La Información.

The operation took place in 2013 under the Government of the Popular Party’s Ignacio González. The Madrid executive sold 2,935 ‘youth plan’ homes, 3,084 parking spaces, 1,865 storage rooms and 45 stores for €210 million, to the joint venture between the US fund Goldman Sachs and the Spanish manager Azora.

 

House Sales Fell by 2.5% in 2019 Due to the Mortgage Law and a Drop in Second-Hand House Sales

The impact of the Mortgage Law and a marked decrease in second-hand house sales (-3%) has been reflected in a 2.52% fall in house sales, which amounted to 568,180 transactions in 2019. Nevertheless, the volume of operations recovered by 1.45% during the final quarter.

The impact of the Mortgage Law and a sharp decrease in second-hand house sales (-3%) have been reflected in a 2.52% fall in total house sales, which amounted to 568,180 transactions in 2019. However, the volume of operations recovered somewhat, by 1.45%, in the last quarter.

In total, the volume of transactions fell by 2.52% in 2019 compared to 2018, when they amounted to 582,888, according to statistics on real estate transactions from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda.

House Prices Rose by 3.6% YoY in Q4 2019, the Lowest Figure since 2015

House prices rose by 3.6% YoY in the fourth quarter of 2019, their lowest inter-annual rate since the first quarter of 2015, according to data from INE. The price of new-build homes saw their first ever inter-quarter price decrease.

House prices increased by 3.6% YoY in the fourth quarter of 2019, their lowest inter-annual increase since the first quarter of 2015, according to the Housing Price Index (IPV) compiled by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) and published on Tuesday.

House prices have now recorded positive inter-annual rates for six consecutive quarters, but the slowdown in the increase reveals buyer fatigue, given the increase in the difficulties they are facing when it comes to affording to buy a home. This smaller increase has had a greater impact on the market for new homes, which has not yet finished recovering from the real estate crash of 2007.

 

Italy Considers Suspending Mortgage Repayments Due to the Coronavirus

The Italian Executive is planning to push through a decree with measures to minimise the impact of the pandemic, which will include the suspension of mortgage repayments for families in need.

The Italian Government is planning to push through a decree with measures to support the economy against the impact of the coronavirus, which will include the suspension of the payment of some taxes and bills, as well as of mortgage repayments for families.

The decree that contains this package of measures will be approved on Wednesday in the Parliament and will be applied throughout the country, according to the Italian Vice Minister of Economy, Laura Castelli. “There will be an important fiscal element with the suspension of the payment of taxes and withholding taxes.” Regarding the moratorium on the payment of mortgages, the vice minister said that “Everything will be suspended.”

La Comunidad de Madrid Will Give the Final Go Ahead to ‘Madrid Nuevo Norte’ on 25 March

The president of La Comunidad de Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has announced that Operación Chamartín will be given the final green light at the Governing Council meeting scheduled for the end of March.

Madrid Nuevo Norte, known more popularly by its former name ‘Operación Chamartín’, will receive definitive approval from the Administration on 25 March, after almost 3 decades of processing. The urban development project will be approved once the last loose end has been tidied up – namely, the environmental permit that La Comunidad de Madrid still needs to issue. According to the President of the region, the PP’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the permit will be approved on 25 March at the Governing Council meeting scheduled for that day.

The newly-named Madrid Nuevo Norte is currently the largest urban development project in the whole of Europe. The project first emerged in 1994, when Renfe awarded the company Desarrollo Urbanístico de Chamartín (Duch) – now Distrito Castellana Norte – the rights to the land that the railway operator owned along with the railway station of the same name. Nowadays, the promoters of Duch (now Distrito Castellana Norte) are BBVA, which owns 76% of the company, and Merlin Properties. Last year, BBVA acquired 14.46% of DCN from the construction company San José. Previously, the Socimi had made contact with the bank to become the main stakeholder of the project, however, those negotiations did not come to fruition. Nevertheless, within the sector, BBVA is still expected to almost certainly become less involved with the macro real estate project, reducing its exposure to the sector and instead focusing on its financial business.

Mortgage Foreclosures over Regular Homes Fell by 21.8% in 2019 to 5,177

The number of foreclosures involving regular homes has been on the decline for five years. Cataluña leads the ranking with the most foreclosures.

The number of foreclosures involving habitual dwellings amounted to 5,177 in 2019, which represents a decrease of 21.8% compared with the figure recorded in 2018, according to the foreclosure statistics published on Friday by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The statistics thereby follow a path of annual decreases; specifically, five years of reductions after falling by 40.7%, 48.3%, 30.3% and 12.6%, respectively, in 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. However, in the fourth quarter of 2019 alone, 1,380 foreclosures were registered in relation to regular homes, up by 45.7% compared to the previous quarter, but down by 12.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

The Government Wants to Push Ahead with its First State Housing Law

This year, the Secretary General for Housing and the Urban Agenda, David Lucas Parrón, wants to approve the first state law on housing, which will establish minimum conditions for accessing a home.

“We have to establish different levers to make this constitutional right effective,” said the new secretary, who has replaced Elena Beunza, during a speech on Thursday.

The initiative will aim to protect and promote public housing; avoid regional imbalances in terms of housing across the country; and legislate at the state level to ensure that every citizen has the right to accessing a decent roof over their head.

Along with this legislation, the Ministry of Transportation, Mobility and the Urban Agenda is also working on a law to put an end to the legal uncertainty surrounding the medium and long-term housing plans of autonomous regions and town halls. It also plans to introduce an architecture law, which will focus on the rehabilitation plans for buildings and homes to be dedicated to public rental, amongst other areas.

 

 

Spain’s Consumer Confidence Index Falls in February after 3 Months of Increases

Consumer confidence in the Spanish economy fell in February due to a deterioration in the assessment of the current situation and of the outlook, according to the CIS.

The Consumer Confidence Index (ICC) for February published by the Centre for Sociological Research (‘CIS’ or Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas) stood at 85.7 points, down by 1.5 points compared to January and well below the 100-point threshold that marks the difference between a positive perception and a negative one.

Consumers rated the current situation at 75.9 points, down by 0.7, given a deterioration in the perception of the situation of households and of the labour market. This survey was conducted on the basis of 2,200 telephone interviews between February 17 and 20.

Tinsa: House Prices Rose by 2.4% YoY in February

From their minimum levels in February 2015, new and second-hand house prices have increased by 16.6% nationwide. Meanwhile, they have fallen by 33.1% since their peaks of 2007, according to Tinsa.

The average price of new and second-hand homes continues to grow in the Spanish market with an interannual increase of 2.4% in February, according to the IMIE General and Large Markets statistics compiled by Tinsa.

Since February 2015, the lowest point of the cycle, average house prices have increased by 16.6% nationwide. Meanwhile, since the highs of 2007, average prices have accumulated a decrease of 33.1%. In February, the average price remained in the same line as the previous month, falling just slightly, by 0.1%.

BBVA Sells 3,000 m2 of Office Space in Barcelona to Merlin for a new Loom Coworking Site

Following this purchase, Loom will have four coworking spaces in the Catalan capital, all located in buildings owned by Merlin.

After this purchase, the company will have four coworking spaces in the Catalan capital, all located in buildings owned by Merlin.

The purchase of the office space, owned by BBVA, involved the disbursement of €15 million by the Socimi chaired by Ismael Clemente. The firm plans to invest €3 million more to refurbish the coworking space, according to the newspaper Expansión.

The Socimi expects that the space, which is located at number 8 Plaza Cataluña, where Huawei recently opened an office, will be ready at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.