Auctions

April 27 will see the first online auction of a property over debts to the tax authorities, following the successful implementation of electronic foreclosures to recover debts to banks and individuals.

Retail spaces on Ermou, Athens's main shopping street, are being purchased at prices unseen since the outbreak of the financial crisis, as the rebound of property prices in the area (which started in 2016) and the increasing tourism flow to the capital stir memories of better times.

The Turkish Customs Ministry has begun handing over smuggled animals they have seized so far to Turkey's Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) before they are put up for auctions. 

Police officers staged a demonstration outside Thessaloniki Police Headquarters on Thursday to protest their working conditions following violent clashes outside a notary office on Wednesday instigated by people opposing auctions of foreclosed properties.

London saw a new record in art painting sales after a rare portrait by Pablo Picasso was sold for $70 million at Sotheby's auction, London.

Scuffles break out outside a notary office in central Athens on Wednesday. Police said that eight members of the "Won't Pay" movement were detained as they attempted to disrupt electronic auctions of foreclosed properties at a notary office on Kapodistriou Street in the city center. All property auctions are gradually being transferred to the online platform.

All property auctions are gradually being transferred to the online platform. Already 1,341 auctions - mainly by banks, and a few by individuals - have been transferred to the electronic system.

The curtain on physical auctions at courts will officially fall on February 28, after which all foreclosed assets will have to be auctioned online.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue confirmed on Friday in a circular that property auctions for debts to the state will officially start on May 1.

The authority has decided that starting prices will be based on the commercial value of the asset to be auctioned, and that they will be determined by independent surveyors.

Banks intend to buy back four out of every five properties that go under the hammer this year, in an effort to prevent a collapse of prices on the real estate market, sector sources have told Kathimerini.

The large number of property auctions currently being planned will undermine the stability - or growth in certain cases - seen recently in the real estate market, sector experts warn.