Tag: individuals

Colau Announces Fines Of Up To €600K For Unlicensed Tourist Flats

29 June 2016 – Expansión

Yesterday, the Town Hall of Barcelona announced that it will impose tougher fines in its attempt to eradicate illegal tourist apartments. The sanctions will amount to €30,000 in the case of individual apartment owners and up to €600,000, in the case of virtual platforms promoting unlicensed apartments against which legal proceedings have already been started. The fines will not affect individuals who rent out a room in their homes, but will apply to those who rent out entire homes and do not have the necessary tourist licences, issued by the Generalitat.

Legal proceedings were launched against Airbnb last year and yesterday, that company issued a strong statement against the municipal regulations, which it described as “disappointing” and “archaic”, given that, in its opinion, “they protect traditional companies and leave no room for individual (entrepreneurs)”.

The main trade association in the sector, Apartur, predicted that the plan “will not work at all”, given that (for it to be successful) it would have to be accompanied by the lifting of the veto that prevents the legalisation of new tourist apartments. Apartur represents 210 companies, which own 7,000 of the 9,600 legal tourist apartments in the city.

The fight against illegal tourist apartments is one of the battle horses that Ada Colau set herself when she was elected mayoress of Barcelona, just over a year ago. The Town Hall said yesterday that in the last year and a half, it has performed 2,505 inspections, of which 2,701 have concluded with the opening of disciplinary proceedings. It also confirmed that it hired more inspectors on Monday.

Last year, Ada Colau opened the first legal proceedings against Airbnb and Homeaway, and following the continuation of the new requirements, nine online portals have stopped advertising unlicensed tourist homes, including Fotocasa, Tripadvisor and Rent4days.

Original story: Expansión (by David Casals)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spaniards Keep The Same Home For 12 Years On Average

26 April 2016 – Cinco Días

Yesterday, Spain’s Association of Property Registrars published the Yearbook of Property Registry Statistics, which analyses aspects such as the use that Spaniards make of their homes, amongst other factors. This use is deduced from the average period of ownership of each home, a very valuable piece of information that is only recorded by the registrars. In 2015, that average period amounted to 12 years and seven months, whilst in 2008, the figure amounted to just seven years and 10 months.

Thus, although this conclusion is not foolproof, the Treasury has already stipulated that during the recent boom, if a home was owned for less than five years then it may indicate that the property was acquired as an investment, whereas properties owned beyond that period, are likely to be used as residences.

The numbers published yesterday show once again that, since the bubble burst and the serious problems being faced by many citizens and companies when it comes to selling their homes emerged, operations involving properties that have been owned for more than five years have gained ground.

In fact, those operations went from representing barely 43.7% of all transactions in 2007 (in other words, less than half of the homes that were bought and sold during the last year of the boom were residences) to 80.7% last year, which the experts describe as a much more balanced figure. By contrast, those operations involving properties owned for less than five years went from accounting for 56.3% of all sales and purchases in 2007 to 19.3% last year.

Another significant finding relates to who participated in the majority of sales and purchases. In 2015, 87.3% of transactions were carried out by families, which represented the second consecutive increase since 2013. Companies, by contrast, continued to lose weight, accounting for just 12.7% of operations, compared with 15.3% in 2014 and 21.9% in 2013. Nevertheless, the figures are still a long way from the minimum of 5.1% recorded in 2007.

House purchases by foreigners accounted for 13.2% of the total and that figure has now been growing for seven years. In the Balearic Islands, that percentage amounted to 35.6%. Moreover, 5.2% of all operations completed by foreigners involved properties costing more than €500,000.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Raquel Díaz Guijarro)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia Granted €16,600M In Loans In 2015, Up By 12.5%

22 January 2016 – Expansión

Last year, Bankia granted €16,600 million in new loans, in particular to companies and SMEs.

Bankia has reported today that the volume of new loans it granted last year increased by 12.5% compared with 2014, to reach €16,600 million in total.

The entity, which will present is annual results on 1 February, did not disclose any information about the evolution of its loan balance, although experts think that it will have decreased, in line with what happened in the third quarter, due to (the trend in) mortgages and the sale of portfolios.

By contrast, they expect that the balance of loans to companies will have closed the year up, after recording several quarterly rises. Specifically, this balance had increased by 5.1% as at September.

Bankia pointed out that almost 84% (€14,000 million) of all the new loans granted were taken out by companies. And, within that segment, the group that experienced the greatest increase (in percentage terms) were self-employed people, to whom new financing increased by almost 73% to reach €216 million.

Meanwhile, the bank granted more than €3,200 million in loans to SMEs, compared with €2,250 million during the same period in 2014, which represents an increase of 43%. Larger companies were granted loans amounting to €10,500 million.

Original story: Expansión (by M. R.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

INE: Primary Residence Mortgage Foreclosures Fall By 12.4%

4 December 2015 – ABC

During Q3 2015, 5,959 primary residence mortgages were foreclosed, which represents a decrease of 12.4% compared with the same period in 2014, according to the mortgage foreclosure statistics published on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In inter-quarterly terms (the third quarter compared with the second quarter), mortgage foreclosures involving primary residences decreased by 31.3%.

The primary objective of this statistic is to provide information about the number of mortgage foreclosures initiated and registered in the Property Registers during the quarter in question. INE points out that not all mortgage foreclosure procedures that are launched end with the eviction of tenants. During the third quarter, 19,403 mortgage foreclosures were launched, 17.8% fewer than during the same period in 2014 and 32.9% fewer than during the second quarter. Of those, 18,344 related to urban properties (including homes) and 1,058 related to rural properties.

The number of mortgage foreclosures over urban properties decreased by 18.5% with respect to Q3 2014 and by 33.2% with respect to the previous quarter. Of the urban properties, 11,584 foreclosures related to homes, i.e. 59.7% of the total, and this figure represented a decrease of 15.6% compared to the same period in 2014. In terms of homes, mortgage foreclosures over homes owned by individuals amounted to 7,590 during the third quarter (down by -13.8% YoY), of which 5,959 were the primary residences of those individuals, whilst 1,631 were not the owners’ primary residences. The number in the latter category decreased by 18.4% with respect to the third quarter 2014.

Meanwhile, there were 3,995 mortgage foreclosures over homes owned by legal entities during the third quarter, a decrease of 18.9% with respect to the same period last year. According to INE, mortgage foreclosure procedures were initiated for just 0.03% of the total stock of family homes in Spain (18,378,100) between July and September 2015.

Decreasing trend for new builds and second-hand housing

Of the total number of mortgage foreclosures recorded involving homes during the third quarter, 9,971 related to second-hand homes, which represented a YoY decrease of 13.3%. Foreclosures over new homes amounted to 1,613, i.e. 27.8% fewer than during the same quarter in 2014. The statistics also reveal that, during the third quarter, 20.3% of the home mortgage foreclosures launched related to mortgages constituted in 2007; 17.2% related to mortgages granted in 2006; and 11.3% corresponded to mortgages signed in 2008. Put another way, 59.8% of the mortgage foreclosures initiated during the third quarter related to mortgages constituted between 2005 and 2008.

Between July and September, mortgage foreclosures over land amounted to 615, representing a YoY decrease of 55.9% and a QoQ decline of 49.5%. Meanwhile, mortgage foreclosures relating to commercial premises, garages, offices, storerooms, warehouses and other urban buildings amounted to 6,145, i.e. 16.8% fewer than during the third quarter last year and 31.9% fewer than during the previous quarter. Finally, there were 1,059 mortgage foreclosures involving rural properties during the third quarter, which represented a YoY decrease of 3.7% and a QoQ drop of 27.2%.

Andalucía leads the ranking

By autonomous region, Andalucía led the number of foreclosures involving homes during the third quarter, with 2,984 in total, followed by Valencia (2,339) and Cataluña (2,022). At the opposite end of the spectrum were Navarra and País Vasco, with just 63 foreclosures each. In terms of the number of foreclosed properties, Andalucía also led the ranking, with 5,019, followed by Valencia (3,718) and Cataluña (3,207). At the tail end were Navarra (99) and La Rioja and Cantabria (112).

Original story: ABC

Translation: Carmel Drake

Santander & BBVA Reduced Their Real Estate Stock In 2014

10 February 2015 – El Economista

In 2014, Santander’s real estate stock decreased by 1.8% and BBVA’s dropped by almost 5%.

Banco Santander and BBVA are beginning to shed some real estate weight. For the first time, the economic recovery has allowed the two large banks to reduce their portfolios of homes and land foreclosed from developers and individuals for the non-payment of debt.

The two largest financial groups in the country have managed to halt the entry of property onto their balance sheets and accelerate its exit, thanks to a boost in sales. Thus, the Cantabrian group has decreased the gross value of its real estate portfolio by 1.8% to €7,851 million. After accounting for provisions, which reflect current market prices, this value decreases to just over €3,500 million.

Meanwhile, the bank chaired by Francisco González has reduced its stock by 4.9% to €13,016 million. After applying the appropriate provisions, the value of its real estate portfolio amounts to €6,131 million.

Boost in sales

This decline in the assets of the two main entities has occurred at a time of stability in terms of prices, which seem to have bottomed out having decreased by 40% in the last seven years. This, coupled with the high provisions, which cover between 53% and 55% of the gross value of the assets, has allowed both entities to sell assets, above all, during the second half of last year, without incurring any additional losses.

The increase in the sale of properties and, even some land, also coincides with the war in the mortgage segment that was unleashed in 2014. The entities have launched campaigns to offer loans at the most attractive prices to enable borrowers to purchase homes, including from their own portfolios.

Different strategy

Santander and BBVA’s real estate strategies are different, but both are now starting to bear fruit, after years of burgeoning portfolios of foreclosed assets as developers and families found it impossible to pay their debts.

Santander, like many other Spanish banks, has transferred the management of these assets to Apollo. The Cantabrian group sold 85% of its real estate platform Altamira to the fund, and whereby achieved significant gains with which to strengthen its capital and transfer the management of the entire stock to a specialist company, which has also just been awarded the management of a portfolio by the bad bank or Sareb for the next few years.

BBVA’s plan is different. The entity, headquartered in Bilbao, has preferred to keep the management of all of its unproductive assets in-house, through its subsidiary Anida.

Although prices have now stabilised and the banks are now making some money on the majority of sales transactions after accounting for provisions, the real estate arms of both banks are still weighing down on their income statements. These divisions include not only foreclosed homes, but also loans granted to companies relating to the real estate sector. In the case of Santander, the real estate department recorded losses of almost €600 million in 2014, 8.2% less than in 2013. BBVA recorded losses of almost €800 million.

Both banks hope that these divisions will begin to generate some kind of positive yield within two years and they expect their respective stock balances to have disappeared or been reduced to an absolute minimum within five years. The decreases were more pronounced (in the double digits) in the case of loans to developers than properties due to the divestments performed in the wholesale market.

Original story: El Economista (by F. Tadeo)

Translation: Carmel Drake