Ambitious targets set for property auctions
Property auctions will rise to an annual rate of 40,000 as of 2019, according to the European Commission’s compliance report, while the planning for this year provides for 10,000 foreclosures.
The report, concerning the completion of the prior actions included in the third bailout review, noted that this year’s target is particularly ambitious given that only 30 auctions were implemented in December 2017. The target for January is set at 500, but just 80 online foreclosures had taken place by January 17, and the properties auctioned were bought by the banks themselves.
The online auction system is set to go into full operation as of March, with some 1,000 foreclosures per month. This monthly target will be doubled to 2,000 for the last quarter of the year, with the prospect of reverting to normality from 2019, when the target will peak at over 3,300 per month.
In 2009, before the outbreak of the financial crisis, there were 58,849 auctions, while in 2016 – when lawyers and notaries took part in extended strike action – their number reached just 4,800. Last year there were 5,600 auctions planned at courts but activists only allowed a handful to go ahead.
