Around 8,000 residential properties are expected to be put on the market by servicers in the next two years through the companies that end up with the properties they purchase through auctions. These are properties for which the legalization and regularization process will be completed in the coming months and will be ready for sale. The aim is to limit the acute housing problem that exists in the market and for these properties to return to the economy free of encumbrances and pending matters. The majority of the properties are suitable for sale, since in addition to their legalization, the companies to which they belong have also undertaken their maintenance and, in many cases, their renovation.
The largest volume of properties is expected to be made available by Intrum Hellas, which through the company REOc (Real Estate Owned Company) manages a total of 11,000 properties (8,500 without their follow-ups, i.e. warehouses, garages, etc.). Of these, 55%, or around 5,000, are residential properties and already 2,500 properties worth 350 million euros are ready to be put on the market by the end of 2025, while the rest will be put on the market gradually until 2027. Cepal follows, which plans to put 1,500-2,000 residential properties on the market within 2026, of which 750 meet the criteria of the “My Home” program and are expected to be settled “on a priority basis”. Correspondingly, doValue Greece plans to put approximately 800 properties on the market by 2026, while in total it is going to put 12,000 residential properties on the market through auctions.
Their sale will be made through the platforms already developed by the servicers' real estate companies, as well as traditional channels, such as Spitogatos, Chrysi Efkairia and the network of brokers throughout the country. Thus, Intrum promotes the properties that are ready for sale through the realestate.intrum.gr platform and its collaboration with Prosperty, doValue through Altamira.gr and Cepal through the ReInvest.gr platform. According to the president and CEO of Intrum Greece, George Georgakopoulos, "the prices at which these properties will be sold will be lower than the market average", as the management companies have acquired them at cheaper prices and have every reason to get rid of the volume of properties that have come into their possession in recent years, mainly through auctions. Holding these properties entails maintenance costs that are added to those that companies have borne since the day they acquired them from the auction.
As Lila Pateraki, Chief Real Estate Services Officer of doValue Greece, explains, “institutional investors have absolutely no incentive to keep inactive properties in their portfolio – on the contrary, they are significantly burdened with taxes (e.g. ENFIA), maintenance costs and utilities. The real obstacle lies in the time-consuming technical and legal maturation procedures, which often “get stuck” for months or even years in urban planning and cadastral offices.”
doValue Real Estate Services has already placed more than 13,000 properties worth 1.6 billion euros on the market since 2021. With 60% of them being residential, notes Ms. Paterakis, "has offered a solution to over 7,500 households, leveraging know-how and automated processes to accelerate the disposal of properties. In the last two years alone, it has matured over 1,000 properties, recording performances higher than the market average, even amidst institutional delays that in some cases reach 36 months."
Source: moneyreview.gr
