Why are home foreclosures at historic lows?

BarcelonaThe number of homes being seized has reached an all-time low in Catalonia and also in Spain as a whole. In a decade, foreclosures on homes have been reduced until reaching 2,645 units in Catalonia last year, and 12,655 in the whole State, 82% less than in 2014, when the statistics were created to know the evolution of foreclosures.

The data, collected by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), indicate the number of registrations of certificates for foreclosures both of urban properties –which includes homes, whether of natural or legal persons, plots of land and also garages, offices, premises and storage rooms– as well as garages, premises and storage rooms. The Spanish Institute of Statistics, which is updated quarterly based on the procedures initiated and registered in the property registers, reminds us that not all foreclosures end with the eviction of their owners.

In the case of housing, the INE also records foreclosures on habitual residence for the whole of Spain, which last year stood at 8,291, 4.3% less than in 2023 and the lowest figure since 2020. With this figure, there are already three consecutive years of decline. However, the total number of registrations of certificates for foreclosures initiated in 2024 was 20,262, which was 4.8% more than in 2023.

More solvent creditors

"The progressive reduction in foreclosures is explained by the fact that after the real estate crisis the market was cleaned up a lot, and now the old mortgages are solvent and the new ones, since the crisis of 2008, are being scrutinized," explains to ARA the manager of the Urban Property Chamber. In fact, even now, half of the foreclosures on current homes belong to that period: the period 2005-2008 accounted for 48.9% of the foreclosures initiated in 2024. "The 2008 mortgages have surely been refinanced and have been refinanced."

For the director of studies of the Pisos.com portal, Ferran Font, the predominance of foreclosures constituted in the years prior to the crisis is also explained by the fact that, then, prices were very high. In fact, housing prices have not yet recovered the annual highs of 2007, at the height of the real estate bubble, although Spain is ready. "Many aspects that came from the real estate bubble have been regularised. Before, accessing credit was much easier, and over the years, the conditions for accessing credit have become more stringent," he adds.