Urban decay

Law enforcement authorities in Athens were in communication on Monday with their counterparts in Berlin after the arrest on Sunday of two German nationals during a raid on an anarchist squat in the downtown district of Exarchia.

The first online foreclosures, set to start on November 29, will concern the assets of individuals or enterprises with debts of 500,000 euros or more (in some cases over 2 million euros).

Mexico on Nov. 16 undertook to focus more resources on the search for missing people, the number of which has grown dramatically in recent years as gang violence has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Three in every five defaulters put off going to the bank to ask about debt arrangement until just one day before the lender forecloses on their property, according to bank figures. Data also show that one in five debtors actively tries to reach a deal only after the start of forced measures (i.e. the termination of the loan agreement).

The government is seeking to break the impasse created by Greek notaries who on Monday announced a boycott on property foreclosures, citing fears for their safety amid violent protests. 

The outlook for property foreclosures in Greece is unclear after notaries announced a boycott on auctions until the end of the year, citing abuse by protesters, though foreign creditors expect the first online auctions to take place this month. 

Apartments, plots of land, stores and office buildings belonging to people or businesses with debts to the tax authorities will soon be auctioned at prices below those used for tax purposes ("objective values") as the law dictates foreclosure sales at market rates instead of objective values, as in the case of debts to banks.

Athens's intention to begin online foreclosures on November 29 was reiterated at a meeting between government officials and the technical experts of the country's creditors in the Greek capital.

Sources said there was an effort made to change the bad atmosphere created in the last few weeks due to the delay in launching the online auction platform.

Foreclosures, which have been practically frozen for the last eight years, represent the credit system's Achilles' heel. The impact from the paralysis of the auction system is already obvious in banks' financial results on the reduction of nonperforming loans and threatens to undermine the target set for containing nonperforming exposures (NPEs).

The union representing notaries in Athens, Piraeus, the Aegean and Dodecanese islands on Friday protested against a recent spate of initiatives by activists opposing foreclosures on homes, noting that the auctions in question related to people owing millions of euros.