Is it too late to invest in bank repossessions properties in Spain?

Less hassle and a nice return?

Many of our readers told us that, yes, you get a return with “buy to let” properties in Spain but you have to manage your property and all the issues going with it, so they asked us: are you aware of any product to get “smart exposure” to the real estate market in Spain? Many others asked us, how can I invest in bank-repossessed properties in Spain?

We found a fund investing only in bank-repossessed properties in Spain and checked it for ourselves so that’s why we wanted to share the results of our work with you.

1. 1. Why did we like the fund and this opportunity?

      1. The management team has 10 years of experience and a track record
      2. Competitive edge: Thanks to their huge geolocalized database of prices’ history with properties’ characteristics: the ones they bought and sold, all the bank properties sold for the last years, all the properties sitting on the market… They have a very accurate idea of what is the “fair” price of any property when bidding for a portfolio. Appraisal work and an on-site visit will do the rest of the job.
      3. The Spanish legal system: “creates” this situation and doesn’t give a lot of choices to the Spanish banks for managing their repossessed properties while keeping a good image.
      4. It is very costly for banks to hold properties on their balance sheet: both in terms of solvency ratio and yearly costs (tax, insurance, community costs, maintenance costs,…)
      5. Opportunity should stay for many years: there are not enough players to dry up properties from the Spanish banks’ balance sheets. Do you remember, it all started in 2008!
      6. Clear investment process: this is a very data-driven and systematic investment approach with many verification steps.
      7. Allows to buy real estate on the Spanish market “at a discount”. As all properties are bought with a big discount, the risk (if any) to the real estate market prices is much lower than any real estate investment: whenever a property is sold, the discount is ‘locked” for the investor which reduces his future risk even more, should the real estate market go down at any time in the future.
      8. Last but not least, no hassle as you would have with any direct real estate investment anywhere in the world.

       

      Of course, as it is a fund, investors should check their tax situation for any investment.

      As you could guess, this kind of fund is for well-informed (and wealthy) investors able to manage and diversify their risks. This is not a recommendation to invest or any advice regarding this investment opportunity. That is why we don’t advertise the name of the company managing this fund but if you want to go further with your due diligence, you can contact them by filling out the form at the end of the report.

       

      Here is what we found out:

1. A fund buying bank repossessions directly from Spanish banks

    

   The fund pursues a unique investment strategy of recurrently:

   1. Acquiring,
   2. repossessing and
   3. reselling residential properties in well-populated Spanish regions.

    

   The properties may be subject to adverse possession or “Squatters”, which is resolved by reaching an amicable financial settlement with the occupant. If this doesn’t work, the fund will start a legal procedure and this will take a maximum of 3 years to get full ownership. 90% of the time the fund will get an agreement with the current squatters.

    

   The Fund will cherry-pick properties among portfolios of occupied residential assets offered by financial institutions.

   

   Example of a Bank repossession in Spain in the portfolio

    

   An institutional manager based in Madrid

   The fund manager is active for more than 10 years in this market.

   Of course, as the fund manager is well known in Spain, they get portfolios all the time from the biggest banks in Spain.

   The assets are only offered to a select group of reputable buyers, like the institutional manager managing the fund, due to the complex nature of solving potential adverse possession situations.

    

   They told us that unique sourcing and strict discipline enables the Fund to buy at very deep discounts vs the current market price as they have to get the property back to the market (before tax expenses), but yes that’s why there is a nice margin left for the buyer, not bad!

    

   The Fund Manager will partner with the leading Spanish-occupied real estate specialist which employs a socially responsible repossession procedure based on mutual agreement Ethical conduct, compliance and strict adherence to legislation are essential.

   Financial settlement occupants are offered financial compensation in return for vacating the property voluntarily.

    

   The Luxembourg fund will reinvest in new properties continuously

   The fund has an open-ended structure, which means that it will stay open as long as the opportunity is present for the fund manager, and is full AIFM regulated and registered in Luxembourg as a “Reserved Alternative Investment Fund” (RAIF) which allows the fund to invest directly in real estate.

    

   The proceeds from sales will be redeployed to buy new portfolios.

    

   The average holding period of a property is 18 months.

    

   Win-win for all the parties involved:

   • banks can offload risk assets sooner,
   • occupants agree with the manager to relocate thanks to a mutual agreement.

    

   Target Net Return

    

   The open-ended fund was launched in 2021 and targets annual net returns of 8.5% to 11% without leverage in a stagnating housing market. Over time the fund may use limited leverage for enhancing returns to 11% -14%.

   The fund manager based in Madrid has been running these strategies since 2011, which is why they could give return targets.

   High-demand area’s

   The fund will exclusively focus on well-populated area’s which have sufficient transaction volume i.e. no rural area’s. A majority of assets will be located in major cities focused on Spanish citizens, not tourists.

    

   Buffers against capital losses

   The fund is buying at very deep discounts, so even after accounting for all costs and taxes, post-COVID real estate prices would have to decline by more than 12% to make a small capital loss, according to the manager. In addition, the Fund is spreading asset purchases over time making it less sensitive to price shocks compared to closed-end real estate funds.

   Unique proprietary technology

   Each property is appraised by a proprietary big data valuation software, which tracks key features (e.g. price, location, surface, floor, amenities,…) of 25mm references gathered over many years. Each appraisal is also supported by a dedicated team of analysts. In addition, a third party will be appointed to verify the value of the holdings.

   Strategy with a track record

   The fund manager told us that they did successfully repossessed and resold over 2,500 assets since 2011. Over 90% of historical property portfolios were eventually sold at a profit that was in line with or above the Fund’s target return.

    

   Ethical & socially responsible procedures

   Based on reaching a voluntary agreement with occupant(s). No occupant is ever threatened or evicted by any other means except those explicitly approved by banks and the law.

    

   High barriers to entry

   This is a niche strategy that is difficult to copy, banks are only willing to sell large portfolios to a legitimate buyer with national coverage who uphold strong compliance standards.

    

   Limited correlation to financial markets

   They described this strategy as an alternative investment strategy focused on existing residential real estate (no development).

    

   A specific opportunity existing only in Spain

   Due to inertia of legal procedures, the culture of ‘occupants’ and the recovery of a major real estate crisis.

   Since the Global Financial Crisis and the ensuing real estate crisis in Spain, the national and regional lenders have unwillingly become large real estate owners.

    

   Unfavourable impact on bank balances sheets

   Not only do banks lack the expertise and staff to properly manage real estate, but the assets also have an unfavourable impact on their minimum capital requirements.

    

   Many properties have sat idle on banks balance sheets for years, and in the meantime have become occupied by people that have gained unlawful entry to the property and now live in it for free.

    

   In Spain, it may take years for owners to obtain court approval to evict unauthorised occupants. In 2018 it became possible for natural persons to pursue an “express judicial procedure”, a procedure which can still take months to evict occupants out of their own homes, but this is not the case for owners that are legal entities as banks real estate funds. Despite being very slow, the Spanish judicial system eventually favours the rightful owner.

    

   Spanish banks are still offloading legacy real estate portfolios from the 2008 crisis, as well as annually foreclosing over 25 000 assets based on police data, at least 87 000 homes are subject to adverse possession, although some consultants estimate the real number closer to 100 000.

   

   Another example of a Spanish bank repossessed property

    

    

2. What is the investment process?

   There are 4 steps:

   1. Appraisal

   The local partner, thanks to reputation and network, has the opportunity to bid on and cherry-pick from hundreds of assets per week from different institutional sellers.

   Each asset is appraised by proprietary software that sources data from 20 million assets This value is the market value or minimum selling target, under normal conditions.

   Each appraisal is verified by a team of professionals.

    

   2. Acquisition

   Next, they apply a strong discount on top of accounting for fees for acquisition, repossession and sale, which leaves a substantial profit margin to the fund.

   The local partner is bidding on assets all year round, negotiations with banks may take many months due to aggressive bidding (only a small share of bids are ever accepted). The Fund will never acquire portfolio’s below its ROI threshold In addition we may order a third party appraisal of all the individual assets in a portfolio.

    

   3. Repossession

   Each occupied asset is visited by a trained in-house staff member. After identifying the occupant(s), the staff member starts the negotiation.

   The selling bank has already initiated a legal eviction process, so the occupant is often more inclined to accept vacating the property rather than risk contact with law enforcement.

   If the negotiation doesn’t work (ca 10% of cases) the fund will pursue judicial track

    

   4. Sale

   The asset is cleaned, and secured (new lock, fortified doors, alarm) as well as lightly refurbished where necessary.

   The fund hires a network of local real estate agents to sell and promote the repossessed assets.

   Some assets will already be sold 4 months after purchase, 50 within 16 months and 80 within 2 years

   

   Another building of a Spanish bank repossession from the portfolio

    

3. More on Bank Repossessions in Spain

   90% of adverse possession occupancies are resolved through mutual agreement (outside of court)

    

   1. Legal procedure

   Usually, a legal eviction procedure is initiated before the acquisition (by banks). In Spain however, this can be a very cumbersome process, taking up to several years. This track is nevertheless pursued to have some leverage in the negotiation process. All processes strictly comply with legal regulations and are approved by the sellers

   2. Visit Property

   Once the judicial procedure has been initiated, the occupant is notified and visited to explain the situation. Not used to this personal approach, some occupants may already leave. Most leave after negotiating compensation for foregoing a few months of rent (as they know they will otherwise be evicted at some point).

    

   3. Negotiate repossession

   More than 90 of the assets are repossessed through mutual agreement, the rest via legal procedures. Banks and funds are unable to pursue this strategy due to the risk of attracting even more occupants to all their empty assets.

   Hundred of the negotiators are proprietary staff (none outsourced), specialized in repossessing occupied assets in Spain.

    

   4. Security and refurbishment

   Once the property is vacated, it is professionally cleaned, and a fortified door, new lock and alarm system are put in place (to avoid people reoccupying) If needed, some basic painting refurbishment is done, however, the apartments are typically sold in their existing condition (at small discounts compared to fully refurbished or new apartments)

    

4. Attractive economics

   Thanks to their sourcing and in-depth experience the Fund expects to perform above average compared to most real estate funds out there.

   • The Fund’s asset manager has developed a proprietary underwriting software including over 26 million Spanish real estate references and can make 50 000 daily valuations Parameters for valuation include surface, price, m² geolocation, cadastral reference, building, elevator/garage, time in the market, etc
   • AI algorithms are implemented in the decision-making process, however, all valuations are corroborated by at least 2 in-house analysts.
   • Target market price as calculated by in-house software valuation analysts The asset is compared to similar assets (based on the above parameters) on the market and sold within the last months, in a small radius.
   • Purchase price incl taxes and origination fees typically 35% to 40% below the target market price to account for costs and base case profit margin (per portfolio) of 25%.
   • Expected costs include annual property taxes, community fees, repossession charges, refurbishment, alarm, lock and intermediaries (real estate agents).
   • ‘Base case’ profit margin is expected to earn 25% to 27% base case on the total investment (cost transfer tax/stamp duty) at SPV level over 2 to 3 years.
   • Target market price as calculated by in-house software valuation analysts The asset is compared to similar assets (based on the above parameters) on the market and sold within the last months, in a small radius.
   • Excess margin the asset is usually put on the market for 150 of the target price (or 230 of investment) and lowered every 2 to 4 weeks.
   • Historically 90 of all portfolios repossessed by the Fund’s asset manager were sold above base case ROIs (and aggregated target prices).

    

   Of course, don’t underestimate potential risks for any (real estate) investment.

   

   Most of the time, even if bank repossessions are occupied in Spain, they are in a good state.

    

5. Here are some of the risks we identified with the fund strategy

   • Liquidity: Repossessing some assets in the portfolio may take longer than expected, thereby depressing IRR’s.
   • COVID 19 fallout (or further crisis): Increasing public debt and unemployment may negatively impact demand for low-income housing.
   • Valuation risk: Risk of overpaying for certain portfolio assets or the condition of the asset appears to be worse than assumed.
   • Reputation: Repossessing assets subject to adverse possession is a delicate matter Unfair evictions may lead to reputational damage for anyone involved.
   • Refurbishment: Although the assets are expected to be in subpar condition, some assets may be in a poorer state than expected.

    

6. Do you want to know more?

   Ask for more due diligence from the manager by sending your contact details directly to the manager. As you understood our disclaimer at the start of this article, every investor is responsible for his own risks and HTBIS does not promote or advise to invest in any specific product. We accept to put you in direct contact with the fund manager by filling this form so we don’t make any advertising for the company. Don’t hesitate to tell them that you read it on HTBIS, they will surely answer your questions with even more details as they did with us. That is how we create value for our readers.

If you want to find a bank property, here is where you should start: Register to our exclusive Spanish bank properties listings and read: Where are the Spanish bank properties for sale?

Remember, the risks are higher if you buy a bank property from a bank. In Spain, furthermore, we would always advise you to work with a lawyer when you buy a property. He will make sure everything is fine. We developed privileged relationships with local lawyers very active with foreigners, don’t hesitate to ask us for a real estate lawyer anywhere in Spain from our network in a specific region. A technical survey of your Spanish property is strongly advised as it is a bank property.

Before buying in any region, have a quick look at all our research on the top 20 Spanish Cities: Everything you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets

Looking for an expert in Spain: Lawyer, Architect, Property Hunter, Mortgage? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior Analyst and Strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

Our FAQ on Bank repossessions in Spain

The post Are bank repossessions in Spain an attractive investment opportunity? appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

Spanish bank repossessions: Your ultimate guide to 120.000 repossessed properties

Residential, Land, Offices and Industrial repossessed properties in Spain

First, why buy a Spanish bank property?

Better financing conditions

• Price is lower most of the time because the bank doesn’t want to keep it on its balance sheet
• More lending: one of the big advantages is that you can get a bigger loan … up to 100% of the Value of the property, in general foreigners would have difficult to get more than 70%. Have a quick look at our mortgage calculator to know your buying power.

We developed a detailed mortgage calculator: Payment schedule, monthly payments,…

• Better financing conditions: Find the current mortgage conditions in our last paper: What are the best Mortgage rates in Spain in 2018?

So, if you find your bank property, negotiate the best rates with your Spanish bank ;). Have a look at our free report: Your Spanish Mortgage: How to apply? How to get the best rates? The only condition to get it is to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Why are there so many bank properties in Spain?

As you can see from our table “Returns and mortgages in Spain“, there are about 25 million properties in Spain. Before the crisis of 2008, about 0.8 million properties were sold per year in Spain.

In 2016, 456.000 properties were sold and 73.000 were foreclosed, i.e. less than 0.3% of the properties in Spain.

If you prefer to play it safe, you could look at new build projects available now. New build projects are qualitative and cheap in Spain.

73.000 properties foreclosed in 2016

Before 2016, A lot of properties were foreclosed after the quick increase in real estate prices in 2007. In the following years after the crisis and with the decreasing prices, people couldn’t afford those properties anymore.

Check the chart of real estate price evolution before and after 2007:

Which regions have the highest foreclosure rate in Spain in 2016?

• Region of Murcia 0.89%,
• Andalusia 0.74%
• Valencian community 0.7%.

For more on that subject, read our article on the foreclosures in Spain: Foreclosures in Spain in 2016.

Our Tips

• Read our useful paper on this: Our top 10 pieces of advice for buying your property in Spain
• Allways hire a lawyer to check the situation of the property and to clear any legal hurdle. Fill the form here and find your local independent lawyer thanks to the local network of Howtobuyinspain.

• Technical check with an architect? Those properties could be old or new but unfinished or empty for a while…
• How to pay in £,$,¥ Pounds, Dollars, Francs, Yuan for my Spanish property?

• Study properties in the neighbourhood in order to make the perfect offer for the bank.
• Location not always terrific: pay attention to the location.
• Submit a bid directly to the branch manager, even better if you are a customer.
• Ask the local branch manager if they are properties not listed online.
• Have a look at all our partners’ deals: we have the connections with local lawyers working for foreigners in many languages in all the Spanish regions and we have other interesting contacts in our network, check it here:

Your easy guide to help you find your foreclosed property

How we sorted the properties?

In order to help you as much as we can and as we noticed that our earlier paper Where are the Spanish bank properties for sale? was a direct big success. We decided to have a more detailed analysis of all the different bank repossessions on the market, we regrouped all the Spanish bank portals with a lot of bargains… We found more than 120.000 properties for sale.

We sorted the properties by type of use: Residential, Land, Offices and Industrial.

For all those categories, we will provide you with the top 3 bank real estate portals with the most properties.

At the end of this section, you will find our exclusive table (easier to read on a computer, difficult to fit so many data in a readable table for mobile users, sorry) regrouping all the Spanish bank websites with the repossessed properties.

Our tip: As you know, some banks are more active than others in some regions. Always try to know which one you should check for your region… a small local bank could be much better than a large national bank for finding your dream property in a certain region.

Residential Bank Repossessions in Spain

The three real estate bank portals with the most Residential properties for sale are:

1. Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of four smaller banks. They have more than 14.000 repossessed residential properties all over Spain
2. Servihabitat: Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. CaixaBank is the leading retail bank in Spain, with the largest customer base. They have more than 10.000 repossessed residential properties all over Spain.
3. Sareb: Sareb is a company created to manage assets from many Spanish banks. As of June 2017, the portfolio of Sareb has 39 billion euros, of which 30% is real estate. They have more than 10.000 repossessed residential properties all over Spain.

Find more residential bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Land Bank repossessions in Spain

The four real estate bank portals with the most plots for sale are:

1. Altamirainmuebles: Altamirainmuebles is the real estate portal of Banco Santander, the largest bank in Spain. It has more than 8.000 plots of lands.
2. Three other players have about 5.000 plots of land:
   • Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of four smaller banks.
   • Servihabitat: Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. CaixaBank is the leading retail bank in Spain, with the largest customer base.
   • Sareb: Sareb is a company created to manage assets from many Spanish banks. As of June 2017, the portfolio of Sareb has 39 billion euros, of which 30% is real estate.

Find more plot of land from bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Office Bank repossessions in Spain

The three real estate bank portals with the most plots for sale are:

1. Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of four smaller banks. They have more than 2.000 repossessed offices all over Spain
2. Cajamar: Cajamar properties are managed by Haya Real Estate, the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of four smaller banks. It has about 800 offices in Spain for sale.
3. Solvia: Solvia is the portal from Banco Sabadell. It’s the fourth biggest bank in Spain. It has about 800 offices for sale.

Find more Office bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Industrial Bank repossessions in Spain

The two real estate bank portals with the most Industrial properties for sale are:

1. Altamirainmuebles: Altamirainmuebles is the real estate portal of Banco Santander, the largest bank in Spain. It has about 600 industrial properties.
2. Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of four smaller banks. It has about 600 industrial properties.

Find more industrial bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Maybe one of THE BEST PLACE TO CHECK? The official Spanish State portal for auctions (in Spanish)

From time to time, the Spanish State has to sell properties to recoup taxes or other, you have a list of properties per region:

The official Spanish State portal for auctions

Our full updated list of the Spanish bank real estate portals with bank repossessions

Move with right or left arrows to see all the data of this table

If you want you can find those Spanish bank real estate web portals on our web page regrouping all the real estate websites of the Spanish banks. If you are a financial investor, our last article: “Are bank properties in Spain a nice investment?” could interest you.

Last but not least, if you are about to buy in Spain, read property buyers guide written for any foreign country and our two very useful articles:

The cost of buying a property in Spain: What is the real cost of buying your Spanish Property?

The cost of owning a property in Spain: What is the real cost of owning your Spanish property?

Remember, the risks are higher if you buy a bank property from a bank. In Spain, furthermore, we would always advise you to work with a lawyer when you buy a property. He will make sure everything is fine. We developed privileged relationships with local lawyers very active with foreigners, don’t hesitate to ask us for a lawyer in a specific region.

Before buying in any region, have a quick look at all our research on the top 20 Spanish Cities: Everything you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets

Looking for an expert in Spain: Lawyer, Architect, Property Hunter, Mortgage? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior Analyst and Strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Spanish bank repossessions: Your ultimate guide to 120.000 properties appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

Are there any Spanish bank repossessions left on the Costa Blanca?

Last year we wrote our article on the bank repossessions in Spain: Spanish bank repossessions: Your ultimate guide to 120.000 repossessed properties. Many foreigners started to check the Spanish real estate market since the crisis of 2008. Of course, prices are rising and currently are at 1.590€ per square meter but we wanted to check ten year after the crisis if there were any bank repossessions left on the Costa Blanca. We did the work for you.

We did the search for the Costa Blanca as, with the region of Murcia, the region of Alicante remains one of the cheapest where you can find sun 320 days per year, check here the monthly weather statistics for any Spanish, while being close to the sea. If you want to compare the prices of the different regions, have a look at our quarterly report: The Spanish property market: our detailed analysis of the top 20 markets!

Before starting, remember, the Spanish government helped to clean the situation arising from the crisis, thanks to pooling “bad assets” – understand, assets for which the mortgage was worth more than the property value.

Where can you find bank properties? First, you can find those at all the major Spanish banks. Second, you can find those at the Sareb. Sareb was created to manage the assets from many Spanish Banks.

What have we found?

We found many properties listed under 50.000€… even some under 20.000€ listed on all the Spanish bank portals publishing the bank repossessions.

In total, we found:

• more than 4.500 properties
• more than 1.400 plot of land
• more than 3.500 properties listed for less than 150.000€

Why buy a Spanish bank property?

Better financing conditions

• Aggressive price as the bank wants to take it off its balance sheet. This was true after the crisis, now we note that the banks are more and more greedy on one hand, on the other hand, bank sold from time to time all their portfolio of properties in one go.
• More lending: one of the big advantages is that you can get a bigger loan … up to 100% of the Value of the property. In general, foreigners would have difficult to get more than 70%. For more information about mortgages, read our most read article: Your definitive guide to your Spanish Mortgage: How to apply? How to get the best rates? or alternatively Have a quick look at our Spanish mortgage calculator to know your buying power.

We developed a detailed mortgage calculator: Payment schedule, monthly payments,…

• Better financing conditions: Find the current mortgage conditions in our last paper: What are the best Mortgage rates in Spain?

What is the current situation on Spanish foreclosures?

Why are there so many bank repossessions properties in Spain?

As you can see from our table “Returns and mortgages in Spain“, there are about 25 million properties in Spain. Before the crisis of 2008, about 0.8 million properties were sold per year in Spain.

In 2016, 456.000 properties were sold and 73.000 were foreclosed, i.e. less than 0.3% of the properties in Spain.

For 2017, 27.171 properties were foreclosed, (housing and others) i.e. 0.1% of all the properties existing in Spain.

In 2018, the number of foreclosed properties is strongly lower than in 2017.

It is very good news that the current economic situation in Spain is improving as you could read in our article we wrote earlier this month: Spanish GDP growth to remain strong up to 2021.

Look at the evolution of foreclosure in Spain in our earlier article.

Is it a good time to buy a bank repossessed property in Spain?

Most of the bank foreclosed properties will be off the market very soon. They were one of the main driving force for Spanish property prices to go down (with the economic situation and the fact that banks were lending less heavily). Right now, all those three forces are going in the opposite direction: we have fewer properties on the market, we have a nice economic activity and Spanish bank are lending more aggressively: What are the best Mortgage rates in Spain?

Last but not least, real estate prices are rising in Spain: check the chart of real estate price evolution before and after 2007:

We found an institutional investor buying bank repossessions in Spain for more than 10 years, so, we guess that it is not such a bad deal to buy bank properties.

Which regions have the highest foreclosure rate in Spain?

• Region of Murcia
• Andalusia
• Valencian community (of which the Costa Blanca)

Our Tips before buying a bank property:

• Don’t dream, if they are on the market, there could be a reason, be cautious.
• Read our useful paper on this: Our top 10 pieces of advice for buying your property in Spain
• Always hire a lawyer to check the situation of the property and to clear any legal hurdle. Find your property lawyer or tax adviser anywhere in Spain
• Technical check with an architect or property surveyor? Those properties could be old or new but unfinished or empty for a while… this means a lot of surprises.
• How to pay in £,$,¥ Pounds, Dollars, Francs, Yuan for my Spanish property?
• Study properties in the neighbourhood in order to make the perfect offer for the bank.
• Location not always terrific: pay attention to the location.
• Submit a bid directly to the branch manager, even better if you are a customer.
• Ask the local branch manager if they are properties not listed online.
• Have a look at all our best partners’ deals in Spain: we have the connections with local lawyers working for foreigners in many languages in all the Spanish regions and we have other interesting contacts in our network.

Your easy guide to help you find your foreclosed property in the Costa Blanca

How have we sorted the properties?

In order to help your Search, we have created a table with direct links towards those portals.

You will learn:

• How many residential properties are listed for each portal on the Costa Blanca? In total, we found more than 4.500 properties.
• How many properties are listed under €150.000 on the Costa Blanca?
• How many plot of lands are listed for sale on the Costa Blanca?

Of course, if you are looking for garage, trastero, offices or industrial properties, you can find those as well.

At the end of this section, you will find our exclusive table (easier to read on a computer, difficult to fit so many data in a readable table for mobile users, sorry) regrouping all the Spanish bank websites with the repossessed properties.

Our tip: As you know, some banks are more active than others in some regions. Always try to know which one you should check for your region… a small local bank could be much better than a large national bank for finding your dream property in a certain region.

Residential properties and Land repossessed on the Costa Blanca

The three real estate bank portals with the most Residential properties for sale in the Costa Blanca are:

1. Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of six smaller banks. They have more than 1.200 repossessed residential properties listed for the Costa Blanca.
2. Servihabitat: Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. CaixaBank is the leading retail bank in Spain, with the largest customer base. They have more than 600 repossessed residential properties in the Costa Blanca.
3. Sareb: Sareb is a company created to manage assets from many Spanish banks. As of June 2017, the portfolio of Sareb has 39 billion euros, of which 30% is real estate. They have more than 500 repossessed residential properties on the Costa Blanca.
4. Altamirainmuebles: Altamirainmuebles is the real estate portal of Banco Santander, the largest bank in Spain. They have more than 500 bank repossessed homes on the Costa Blanca

Find more residential bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Land Bank repossessions in the Costa Blanca region:

The four real estate bank portals with the most plots for sale are:

1. Altamirainmuebles: Altamirainmuebles is the real estate portal of Banco Santander, the largest bank in Spain. They have more than 500 bank repossessed plot of land on the Costa Blanca
2. Sareb: Sareb is a company created to manage assets from many Spanish banks. As of June 2017, the portfolio of Sareb has 39 billion euros, of which 30% is real estate. They have more than 270 repossessed plot of land on the Costa Blanca.
3. Haya Real Estate: Haya Real Estate is the portal of Bankia. Bankia is the result of a merger of six smaller banks. They have more than 200 repossessed plot of land listed for the Costa Blanca.
4. Servihabitat: Servihabitat is the portal from “la Caixa Bank”. CaixaBank is the leading retail bank in Spain, with the largest customer base. They have more than 180 plot of land on the Costa Blanca.

Find more plot of land from bank repossessions on our exhaustive table of all the Spanish bank web portals at the end of this article.

Another good place to check is the official Spanish State portal for auctions (in Spanish)

From time to time, the Spanish State has to sell properties to recoup taxes or other, you have a list of properties per region:

The official Spanish State portal for auctions

Our full updated list of the Spanish bank real estate portals with bank repossessions

Move with right or left arrows to see all the data of this table

If you want you can find those Spanish bank real estate web portals on our web page regrouping all the real estate websites of the Spanish banks.

Last but not least, if you are about to buy in Spain, read our two very useful articles:

The cost of buying a property in Spain: What is the real cost of buying your Spanish Property?

The cost of owning a property in Spain: What is the real cost of owning your Spanish property?

Remember, the risks are higher if you buy a bank property from a bank. In Spain, furthermore, we would always advise you to work with a lawyer when you buy a property. He will make sure everything is fine. We developed privileged relationships with local lawyers very active with foreigners, Find your property lawyer or tax adviser anywhere in Spain

Before buying in any region, have a quick look at all our research on the top 20 Spanish Cities: Everything you ever wanted to know about the top 20 Spanish Cities real estate markets

Looking for an expert in Spain: Lawyer, Architect, Property Hunter, Mortgage? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior Analyst and Strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post The last bank repossessions on the Costa Blanca? 12.000€ only? appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

Review our most recent article on the same subject: Spanish property prices quarterly report: our detailed analysis of the top 20 markets!

BBVA released its last update on the Spanish residential market

The Spanish economy is more stronger than expected

The good news is that the Spanish economy is growing much more than expected three months ago. In fact, BBVA Research has just announced a rise of its forecasts for the Spanish economic growth to 3.3% in 2017 and 2.8% in 2018. This should be compared to growth forecast from the EU at 2.3% and 2.1% respectively. Follow the link to read our “Must see charts on Spain” for more on that.

The direct impact according to BBVA are:

• the creation of more than one million jobs in Spain in those two years,
• a higher consumer confidence

The Spanish Residential market is strong

Consequently, the real estate sector is benefiting from this positive environment: it will be responsible for about 10% of the GDP growth rate in the next two years.

As you can see from our table of the “National market activity in Spain“, the number of building permits up to March 2017 is 67000, much more than the 56000 of last year.

Financing remains favourable

Another specific favourable condition to the real estate sector remains the low mortgage rates: under 2.3%. Of course, long-term rates are very low at 1.6% and short-term rates, Euribor 1 Year, are negative. At the same time, as you will read it in our tables, the gross yield on rent estimated by the central bank of Spain at end 2017 is 4.3%. Check the current market conditions on our updated tables dedicated to real estate investment. Demand remains strong from both Spaniards and foreigners as you can see on our chart: the number of properties purchased in Spain was of 520.000 for the last year ended in March 2017. The highest level has seen since 2008!

Real estate transactions in Spain are at highest level since 2008

Spaniards and Foreigners are very active, both are buying the most since 2008, check this chart:

Yearly data. Source: Ministerio de Fomento

As you can see on this table, the number of transactions is increasing strongly to 520.000 transactions vs 420.000 at the same time last year. Foreigners bought 14% of the properties sold during the last year. English are less active due to the Brexit uncertainty but other countries like Italy and Belgium are more active.

Check on this chart the 12-month rolling buying activity of real estate by foreigners in Spain:

Although the market is strong, on average, as you can see on our map on our homepage: Madrid, the Mediterranean cities and the islands are leading the way but at the same time other regions are showing negative price evolution on a yearly basis.

The pick up of sales drives the prices

In this market environment, BVBA foresees a 10% growth of transactions in 2017 and a rise of real estate prices of 3% as the new build properties are coming much slower to the market.

Rental prices are rising fast

BBVA highlights as well the significant rise in residential rental prices in its report. They give a very interesting statistic from the INE:

The number of households being on rental rose from 9.6% in 2001 to 16.3% in 2016 while those being owner of their homes decreased from 84.7% to 77.1% during the same period. This ownership rate remains one of the highest of any European country. Countries like Germany, United Kingdom are more in the 65% range.

The price correction experienced by the real estate sector and the low financing costs have significantly cheapened mortgage payments related to rent.

Have a look at where we come from:

You will find this charts as the first of “our 10 reasons why you should buy real estate in Spain“.

What are the expectations?

BBVA concludes that the expectations are positive:

• GDP growth expected to be at 3.3%
• 1 million job creation of jobs to move the unemployment rate further down
• the number of transactions expected in 2017 is +10% vs 2016, driven by local and foreign demand
• Low-interest environment
• New building activity is back in growth territory (20% more visas)
• Reduced inventory => impact of demand on prices
• Prices expected to rise by 3% per year
• Strong growth of rental prices

As a conclusion:

the strong economic conditions for the coming quarters should ensure a good tone for the real estate market.

Have a look at the full report in Spanish here.

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Update on the Spanish property market appeared first on How to buy in Spain.

BBVA just released its update on the Spanish residential market

The real estate market has consolidated its recovery in 2016 but the market shows a great geographic heterogeneity. As you can see on our map on our homepage, Madrid, the Mediterranean cities and the islands are leading the way while other regions are showing negative price evolution on a yearly basis.

The main positive factors helping the real estate market identified by BBVA are the positive evolution of the economy, the favourable financial conditions and the income growth of households. At the same time, real estate investments remain an attractive alternative.

There were 460 000 transactions in 2016, which represents a growth of 13.5% as we wrote on our February news. Properties purchased by foreigners represented 17% of all transactions.

The construction sector is strong as well with 64000 building permits for new homes, a 30% growth.

BBVA expects price rises of 2.5% for 2017 in an environment that contains risks: possible increase of interest rate by the ECB and geopolitical uncertainties

What is the current situation on the Economy?

GDP growth expectations remain strong and close to 2.7% for both 2017 and 2018, just a little bit higher than the expectations of the EU Commission we reported in early February. Inflation coming back towards 2% this year could accelerate the ECB move on the tightening side. On the unemployment side, Spain created 413000 new jobs in 2016 and the unemployment rate came down to 19% a decrease of close to 2 percentage points. Furthermore, BBVA expects a further decrease of 920 000 persons towards 15.8% end 2018. On the risk side, BBVA points towards uncertainty regarding the brexit, uncertainty regarding the new US administration, the cost of energy, inflation evolution and budget deficit expected to be 3.1% of GDP in 2017.

Elections in France on April and in Germany in September could be external risks.

Check our table of up to date Spanish economic indicators in our trends section.

Recovery of the property market continues for the second year.

BBVA points out the important correction that the market went trough since 2006:

• The price of housing contracted by around 38% in real terms
• As you saw on our chart, housing sales fell from 955186 transactions in 2006 to 300 000 in 2013.
• Initiations of new contracts fell by 96% between 2006 and 2013.

This being said, the market seems to have found a bottom in 2013 and is showing a new growth phase: residential transactions grew for a third consecutive year and prices are rising as well for the second year in a row.

In 2016, the rebound was driven by 3 different parts: Madrid, the Mediterranean cities and the Islands.

We reported earlier this month the different property price evolutions per region of Spain in 2016.

The pick up of sales drives the prices

Domestic demand is driven by job creation says BBVA. In 2015 the growth was 9.4% and in 2016 it was even stronger at 14.1%. The regions with the strongest domestic demand were Baleares, Catalonia and Madrid. If you compare that with the foreigners real estate activity in Spain, as we wrote in January, it is not a surprise to see Madrid disappear from the top 3. The “Comunitat Valenciana” is the biggest Autonomous Region in term of transactions with close to 30% of the transactions. Andalucia and Catalonia are second and third with 20% and 15% of transactions.

Financing remains favourable

As you can find on our return & finance tables, long-term rates are very low at 1.6% and short-term rates, Euribor 1 Year, are negative. At the same time, as you will read it in our tables, the gross yield on rent estimated by the central bank of Spain at end 2016 is 4.4%.

Strong activity by foreigners with 17% of the market and 14% yearly growth

It is interesting to note that since 2009, foreigners bought more properties every year in Spain! Check this impressive chart:

Which nationalities are the biggest buyers?

United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium,… check our infographic on that.

What are the expectations for 2017

BBVA concludes that the expectations are mildly positive:

• GDP growth expected to be at 2.7%
• 450000 creation of jobs to move the unemployment rate further down to 17.5%
• 490000 transactions expected, +7% vs 2016, driven by local and foreign demand
• Low-interest environment
• New building activity is back in growth territory

While at the same time risks are present:

• Brexit
• US policy
• Inflation
• Interest rates
• Geopolitical uncertainties

Have a look at the full report in Spanish here.

Looking for an expert in Spain? Ask us directly!

Stéphane

Senior analyst and strategist at HTBIS

Check the full HTBIS team here

The post Update on the Spanish property market, March 2017 appeared first on How to buy in Spain.