Timely law has protected homes from repossession
Data seen by Kathimerini concerning the course of home repossessions over the last five years show a 63 percent reduction, thanks to the protection of property by regulations regarding not only main residences but households’ assets as a whole.
Despite the serious rise in bad loans during the financial crisis, property auctions diminished from 52,000 in 2009 to just 19,000 last year. This near-freezing of repossessions has come thanks to the regulatory framework that was introduced at the start of the crisis and which has proved efficient in protecting the property of Greek households.
From 52,000 auctions in 2009 the figure dropped to 48,000 in 2010, to 44,100 in 2011 and to 26,000 in 2012 before reaching up to just 19,000 in 2013. Repossessions amounted to 4,600 in the first quarter of this year. However, despite the halving of auctioned properties from 2009 to 2012, their values remained stable as creditors apparently exercised their right to repossession only for expensive properties.
