Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
2 April 2018 – Expansión
Last year, BBVA, CaixaBank and Sabadell recorded revenues of more than €5,065 million from the sale of homes that came onto their balance sheets due to non-payment during the years of the crisis. Santander obtained €1,295 million in this regard, and Bankia and Bankinter received €457 million and €138 million, respectively. In total, the banks in the Ibex 35 recorded sales of €6,955 million from the sale of homes, which represented a YoY increase of 6%.
In parallel to the signing of agreements to launch the transfer of the bulk of their portfolios of toxic assets to specialist funds, year after year, the banks are marketing properties through their own distribution platforms to clean up their balance sheets and return them to the figures that they registered before the outbreak of the crisis.
BBVA recorded the highest revenue figure, of €2,121 million, which represents an increase of 7.5% YoY, from the sale of 25,816 properties. Its subsidiary Anida is responsible for distributing its products in the market.
By the end of last year, BBVA’s exposure to the real estate sector had decreased by 37.2%, to €6,416 million, due, primarily, to the wholesale operations undertaken.
Last year, the bank chaired by Francisco González made a turn in its real estate strategy by agreeing to create a joint entity with Cerberus to which it will transfer some of its properties, worth around €13 billion. The bank will hold a 20% stake in that entity and the fund the remaining 80%. The operation is expected to be closed during the second half of 2018.
Last quarter
The largest increase in the sale of homes was achieved by CaixaBank, which saw its revenues rise by 20.4% YoY to €1,610 million. Most of those operations were concentrated in the final quarter of the year when proceeds of €561 million were received.
Through Servihabitat, CaixaBank markets the properties of the group’s subsidiary BuildingCenter online, as well as through the branch network and API. The bank has €5,878 million in foreclosed assets up for sale and €3,030 million allocated for rent.
The bank has engaged KPMG, Oliver Wyman and McKinsey to redefine its strategy and gain efficiencies in the divestment of the foreclosed real estate assets.
As part of that roadmap, last week, CaixaBank sold 1,458 homes to Testa for €228 million.
Meanwhile, Sabadell cut its property sales by 14% to €1,334 million due to fewer sales to institutional investors, which fell from €233 million in 2016 to €57 million a year later. Last year, Sabadell divested 14,924 properties, up by 2.6% compared to the previous year. Its subsidiary Solvia is its main distribution channel.
In parallel, Sabadell has placed two toxic real estate portfolios up for sale, proceeding in part from the former CAM, under advice from KPMG.
Last year, Santander recorded revenues of €1,295 million from the sale of foreclosed assets, which represented a YoY increase of 19.5%. The gross value of the assets sold by that bank last year was €2,168 million, up by 33% compared to the previous year. Santander obtained profits of €95 million from its sales, up by 64%.
Altamira is Santander’s distribution platform, which held €11,661 million in foreclosed assets at the end of 2017, of which €5,943 million proceeded from Popular. To that figure, we have to add €3,619 million in assets from Popular included in the operation agreed with Blackstone, which will allow the clean up of the group’s toxic assets (…).
Finally, Bankia sold 8,430 properties in 2017, which represents 20.2% of the stock it had held at the beginning of the year, for which it recorded revenues of €457 million, down by 2.9%. Bankinker, one of the banks with the lightest real estate load obtained €138 million, up by 2.2%.
Original story: Expansión (by Elisa del Pozo)
Translation: Carmel Drake