Residential Mortgage Foreclosures Increased By 5.6% In 2014

31 July 2015 – Expansión

Banks foreclosed 36,519 primary residence homes from individuals who were unable to make their debt repayments in 2014, an increase of 5.6% compared with the previous year. That is the main finding from the statistics published yesterday by the Bank of Spain about mortgage foreclosure processes involving residential properties.

Almost half of the homes handed over to financial institutions were “daciones en pago” (16,489), an increase of 10% compared with 2013. Meanwhile, there were 17,113 judicial mortgage foreclosures, up 2% compared with 2013. In 2,801 of those cases, the families still lived in the homes.

On a less negative front, only 25 primary residence homes were handed over as a result of court orders and with the intervention of security forces, compared with 93 cases in 2013.

Judicial processes involving mortgage foreclosures over other kinds of homes (second homes and rental properties) also increased, by 1.6%.

Meanwhile, data regarding housing permits was published yesterday, revealing that 19,134 licences were granted between January and May 2015, an increase of 28.2%.

Original story: Expansión (by Juanma Lamet)

Translation: Carmel Drake