Tag: Ahora Madrid

Carmena Commits To Studying Operación Chamartín

25 June 2015 – Expansión

The mayoress of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, has confirmed to the Chairman of the Distrito Castellana Norte (DCN), Antonio Béjar, that she is committed to studying the draft plans for the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana, according to sources close to the company.

Carmena met with the project’s leaders on Wednesday, for around an hour, in an atmosphere characterised by the “utmost cordiality”.

During the meeting, Béjar described the planned development to the mayoress of Ahora Madrid. He explained that the project aims to promote the DCN through its Partial Plan and that it will be one of the most important city projects in Europe.

At the end of the meeting, Béjar seemed optimistic and said that he hopes that the Partial Plan will be approved at an upcoming plenary session, once the Town Hall’s new government has analysed it in detail.

The project will extend the Paseo de la Castellana north by 3.7 km and involve the redesign of an area covering 311 hectares. It will also include the construction of 17,700 homes, 56 hectares of green space – half the size of the Retiro park – and several skyscrapers.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Election Fallout: Large Investors Rethink Their Strategies For Spain

2 June 2015 – Expansión

Election fallout / International funds are worried about the impact that the new (political) environment will have on their purchases of: social housing, problem mortgages and portfolios of homes from banks.

The rise of Podemos in the municipal and regional elections could clog the bank’s real estate drain once again. After years of provisions and foreclosures, the financial sector had started to sign large transactions in recent months, and whereby reduce the high burden of property on their balance sheets. Transactions worth more than €10,000 million are currently underway. However, some potential investors have begun to rethink their strategies and fully expecting that the projects that are already underway will be affected, at least in terms of price.

(….)

The fears of the larger international funds revolve around what might happen in three specific segments: subsidised social housing (VPO homes), where Blackstone and Goldman Sachs have been very active; the suspension of evictions; and the possibility that new measures will be taken to deal with vacant homes.

Subsidised social housing

Subsidised homes were one of the assets that the funds that first arrived in Spain expressed interest in. Blackstone and Goldman purchased more than 8,000 homes of this kind between 2013 and 2014 from the Community of Madrid, the Town Hall of Madrid, FCC, Sareb and Bankia.

Now, after a couple of years managing these real estate portfolios, the funds fear that the expected arrival of Ahora Madrid in the Town Hall will change the rules of the game and may even cause them to reverse their purchases (i.e. exit their investments) (…).

Mortgage portfolios

The second wave of concerns relates to mortgage portfolios, which were expected to generate a large volume of transactions during 2015. A priori, financial sources indicate that it would be easier if there was no legislative change until the general elections, in case Podemos gains strength as an alternative Government. However, the mere uncertainty in this regard means that funds are going to really take care with the purchase of any portfolio.

Blackstone is again the fund that is most exposed to these assets, since in 2014 it purchased a portfolio of problem mortgages from Catalunya Banc amounting to €6,400 million. This acquisition involved around 50,000 mortgage contracts, of which 57% were overdue or non-performing; and more than half were located in the province of Barcelona, where the possible arrival of BComú – which groups together Podemos, Esquerra Unida and other left-wing parties – generates real real amongst international investors.

Following this transaction, agreed in 2014, Bankia and BMN have put their own problem mortgage portfolios up for sale.

Sources close to the funds explain that eviction is the last resort used for this type of portfolio, and that the main objective is to reduce the debt so that loans become more affordable or “daciones en pago” in exchange for holding onto the home. But, they add, that the legal concept of eviction helps them to put pressure on certain delinquent borrowers, something they would have to stop doing based on the election promises of some of the political parties.

Tax on vacant homes

Given the uncertainty surrounding the general elections, a more immediate fear is the new taxes that local councils in the major regional capital cities may introduce: such as the tax on vacant homes. That would certainly have an effect of some of the loan portfolios that the banks have put on the market in recent months. (…)

Original story: Expansión (by J. Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Will Not Sever Ties With Banks That Evict Families

27 May 2015 – El Confidencial Digital

The candidate for mayor of Madrid distances herself from Podemos and says that she will not apply the measure that Teresa Rodríguez imposed on Susana Díaz.

The greatest triumph of Podemos in the municipal elections held on 24 May has been the opportunity to become the mayor of the largest city in Spain. However, Manuela Carmena will govern Madrid without implementing one of the most controversial measures proposed by the party led by Pablo Iglesias.

It was after the elections in Andalucía when Podemos launched the headline-grabbing idea: to sever ties with the banks that force the eviction (of families) from homes with mortgages that the owners cannot pay.

The leader and regional candidate, Teresa Rodríguez, proposed this measure during talks with Susana Díaz to negotiate a possible agreement to allow the inauguration of the socialist as President of the Regional Government. Firstly, she demanded that the Andalucían Government should not work with banks that carry out evictions and next, she reduced the condition to require that the Government should not hold accounts with financial institutions that evict those unable to pay their mortgages.

After proposing this measure, several municipal candidates supported by Podemos for the May 24 elections included in their electoral program, or at least declared in public, their commitment to severing ties with banks involved in evictions.

Negotiations with the banks and non-retaliation

However, Confidencial Digital has learned that this measure will not be applied by the candidate who will govern Madrid’s town hall, given that Ahora Madrid did not include this idea in its election manifesto.

Sources close to the candidacy of Manuela Carmena confirm that this measure is not included in her election manifesto and therefore, she does not plan to apply it if she ends up ruling the municipal government of Spain’s capital.

“Ahora Madrid is committed to stopping evictions”, says the electoral manifesto of the municipal brand of Podemos for these elections. Below, it details a series of proposals that the town hall will undertake to avoid evicting people from primary residences and, in the event that they do take place, to offer an alternatives for evicted families.

Nevertheless, at no time does it mention “non-retaliation” against the banks that carry out evictions. Carmena’s manifesto includes only, amongst other measures, incentives for use to be made of  empty homes held by the financial institutions or the “bad bank” (Sareb), through agreements whereby the homes are transferred to the public stock of housing for use in the rental scheme.

Other Podemos candidates do support the measure

It is noteworthy that the candidacy of Ahora Madrid is distancing itself from one of the measures that, after being proposed by Teresa Rodríguez in Andalucía, was supported by many of the candidates that stood in the municipal elections, with the support of Podemos.

That is the case in Sevilla, where Participa Sevilla publicly committed that, if it was elected to the Town Hall, the Sevilla government would not work with banks that evict (people). Its candidate for mayor, Susana Serrano, even asserted that “it is inconsistent that the money from evicted families is held in the same banks that evicts them”.

Participa Sevilla will be key to enabling the socialist Juan Espadas to take the capital of Andalucía from the Popular candidate Juan Igancio Zoido. But the proposals made by the candidates supported by Podemos are more noteworthy; furthermore, they have won the elections and, presumably, will govern the town halls.

In La Coruña, Marea Atlántica – which won four more votes than the second ranked party, the PP – intends to apply the “cancelation of balances with banking institutions that carry out evictions”. Meanwhile, Barcelona En Comú, which has won with Ada Colau as the leader, is going to study measures to put pressure on the banks that do not negotiate with the town hall to put a stop to the evictions: including, “putting a stop to trading with the banking entities in question” and imposing sanctions on those banks.

Original story: El Confidencial Digital

Translation: Carmel Drake