Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
3 July 2015 – El Economista
Sareb’s Chairman, Jaime Echegoyen (pictured above) has revealed that the entity sold 5,000 properties during the first half of 2015, which represents a sales rate of 28 units per day, with the majority of its activity concentrated in the retail market.
These figures show that the so-called ‘bad bank’ reduced its sales rate by 38.27%, with respect to the same period last year, when it sold 8,100 properties during the 6 months to June, i.e. 45 properties per day. Sareb has set a sales target of 15,000 properties for 2015.
According to Echegoyen…60% of the 5,000 properties sold during the first half of the year came from the balance sheet of property developers, as a result of agreements to facilitate the sale of homes that had been held as collateral for loans. (…).
The head of the ‘bad bank’ highlighted that the majority of the company’s debtors are small and medium-sized companies “which, in many cases, need support to settle the debtor position that they hold”. In this sense, he reiterated that Sareb “is not a bank” and therefore it cannot offer new financing, but it can collaborate by affording borrowers time and flexibility. Thus, during the first few months of the year, the company has evaluated more than 2,500 proposals from debtor companies to arrive at sale, restructuring and refinancing agreements.
Sale of land
Although the volume of property sales decreased during the first six months of the year, the volume of land sales increased, by 43% with respect to the same period last year, to reach 23, whilst the income from these transactions grew four-fold.
Moreover, Sareb closed 14 transactions in the tertiary sector, i.e. double the number recorded during the same period last year, with growth in income of almost 50%.
Echegoyen acknowledged that Sareb’s activity in the institutional market during the first half of the year “has been moderate” and he announced that the company intends to continue its divestment initiative during the second half of the year, with the launch of several loan portfolios, linked to different kinds of collateral, such as land, work in progress properties and logistical assets.
The Chairman of the ‘bad bank’ indicated that the current environment in the real estate sector “is very different” from that seen in 2012 and 2013, since the volume of transactions is beginning to grow, and prices are stabilising and have even started to recover in certain parts of the country, both for new and second-hand homes.
Social purposes
“Moreover, the recovery is not limited to the market for homes, but rather it is affecting other segments as well, such as land and tertiary assets, which is positive for us given the large range of real estate assets in our portfolio”, he added. In this sense, Echegoyen revealed that the bank plans to exploit this ‘stock’ of assets to deepen its commitment to society and he indicated that they are working to expand their social initiatives through other types of assets, beyond housing. (…)
Original story: El Economista
Translation: Carmel Drake
