About 700,000 properties worth 40-45 billion euros are in the hands of funds that bought bad bank loans in recent years, which made investment funds the owners of significant Greek property. These are objects of all categories – residential buildings, shops, industrial buildings, land, etc. – which are collateral for a debt of 90 billion euros that has changed hands in recent years as a result of the sale and securitization of bad loans.

The fact that a significant portion of this property was securitized under the Hercules government guarantee, which includes specific collection targets for these loans, adds to the pressure to increase collection through auctions. It is estimated that a percentage of 25-30% of these facilities will be eliminated in the next 2-3 years, i.e. about 200,000 objects will be sold through auctions, which will be a key tool to achieve the goals envisaged in the business. plans of funds and management companies that undertook their implementation.

Already in the first half of the year, 23,360 auctions were posted on the e-auction platform, and another 17,000 are planned from the second half of the year until February 2023, and this list is growing daily.

Of the 23,360 auctions placed in the first half of the year, 17,620 were finally completed, i.е. 75%. Fertile, i.e. with a reseller – be it a fund, banks (which still hold a small stock of red loans) or a third party – was 4,190, i.e. about 24%, and another 13,430 auctions were considered interest-free, interest-free. the price at which the property was auctioned.

In the next 2-3 years, 200,000 properties will be sold.

The resumption of auctions after a two-year decline due to the pandemic confirms that they are gradually returning to pre-crisis levels of 2008 and 2009, when annually scheduled auctions hovered between 40,000 and 50,000.

The huge amount of real estate that has been transferred to the funds is also the reason why all the big investment funds that have been placed on the Greek market, such as doValue, Intrum and Davidson Kempner, in addition to the management companies, have also created real estate companies that have already started make a name for themselves through the sales they drive through their custom platforms. In some cases, bad loan management companies, which act either as trustees or as banks for NPLs that remain in bank portfolios, in some cases facilitate consensual property sales in consultation with debtors who prefer to transfer property to them. to reduce their debt. The short selling method, as it is called, is a new practice in the red credit market that has been introduced by major managers and is expected to be strengthened in the coming years as their activity in the property management market expands.

Significant is the presence of the Italian group doValue, which operates in Greece through a management company of the same name, and doValue Real Estate, which manages real estate that has passed into its ownership through auctions. The Italian group has developed the Altamira platform for the sale of properties currently owned by doValue, as well as those put up for electronic auction.

A similar activity has been developed by the Swedish group Intrum, which is active both in the market and in the management of red loans, and in order to manage real estate from liquidated loans, it created Intrum REO Solutions, which is also a platform for promoting real estate that eventually passes into the ownership of the Group .

Finally, Davidson Kempner is active in credit management through Cepal, and in property management over the summer, she entered into a strategic partnership with the Resolute Asset Management group to create a joint venture called Resolute Kaican Greece, which will focus on the management and operation of real estate portfolios from buyouts and auctions. , as well as value creation for large commercial real estate.

The real estate companies of large investment funds undertake the settlement of legal and technical problems with real estate acquired by funds, mainly through auctions, in some cases their reconstruction, as this can increase their commercial price and their visibility in cooperation with and with real estate agencies that see a significant opportunity for business development in the new organization of the real estate market.

An important part of the property, which will become the property of funds in the coming years, will be sold through packages, a practice developed by banks so far. The corresponding market has already begun to develop along with the secondary market for red loans, that is, the sale of red loans from funds to other funds.