Geografía de los desahucios por ejecución hipotecaria en las ciudades españolas: evidencias a partir de las viviendas propiedad de la SAREB

Abstract

RESUMENEl estallido de la burbuja inmobiliaria y el inicio de la crisis financiero-inmobiliaria se han traducido, en España, en la mayor proliferación de las ejecuciones hipotecarias y desahucios de Europa occidental. Ello pone en evidencia las lógicas depredadoras del modelo inmobiliario español, el cual ha alimentado un gigantesco proceso de desposesión de vivienda. El artículo aporta evidencias del desigual desarrollo de la crisis hipotecaria en las ciudades españolas a partir de la explotación de datos del stock de vivienda en manos de la SAREB proveniente de ejecuciones hipotecarias. El análisis territorial de la distribución de las viviendas propiedad de la SAREB en tres ciudades (Alicante, Murcia y Zaragoza) permite identificar los barrios con una especial afectación de procesos de desposesión de vivienda. Los resultados demuestran como las ejecuciones hipotecarias están tendiendo a concentrarse en los barrios más vulnerables, profundizando su situación de precariedad. Ello evidencia como la crisis financiero-inmobiliaria está contribuyendo a profundizar las desigualdades urbanas.Palabras clave: SAREB, ejecuciones hipotecarias, desahucios, desigualdad, España. ABSTRACTThe bursting of the housing bubble and the onset of the financial and real estate crisis have resulted, in Spain, in the biggest proliferation of foreclosures and evictions than any Western European countries. That situation reveals the predatory logic of the Spanish real estate model, which has fuelled a huge housing dispossession process. The article provides evidences of the uneven development of the mortgage crisis in the Spanish cities. The study is based on data exploitation of housing stock in the hands of the SAREB acquired through foreclosures. The spatial analysis of the distribution of housing units owned by SAREB in three cities (Alicante, Murcia and Zaragoza) has allowed identifying neighbourhoods with a special concentration of housing dispossession processes. The results show how foreclosures are tending to focus on the most vulnerable neighbourhoods, which translates to a deepening of their precarious situation. These findings show how the financial and real estate crisis are contributing to deepening urban inequality.Keywords: SAREB, foreclosures, evictions, inequality, Spain. Esta extensión de los desahucios por impago del crédito hipotecario ha sido acompañada, y alimentada, por los llamados procesos de "reestructuración y saneamiento" del sector financiero español. Esto es, el rescate de la banca con dinero público y la bancarización de las cajas de ahorro regionales (reestructuración) más el trasvase de activos provenientes del sector inmobiliario (suelo, promociones de vivienda vacía y viviendas adquiridas a través de ejecución hipotecaria) a la SAREB (saneamiento). Lo más significativo de este proceso es que los bancos rescatados con dinero público han sido, precisamente, aquellos que más han desahuciado. Los datos disponibles en Cataluña permiten ilustrar que cerca de un 65% de los desahucios derivados de una ejecució...

Spatial Analysis of Clustering of Foreclosures in the Poorest-Quality Housing Urban Areas: Evidence from Catalan Cities

“…This process entailed first rescuing financial entities with the use of public funds and the subsequent conversion of regional savings banks into private banks (restructuring). This was followed by the transfer of the assets of the rescued financial entities (land; empty, unsold, and/or unfinished housing; and housing acquired via mortgage foreclosure) from the property sector to the Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria (Company for the Management of Assets Proceeding from the Restructuring of the Banking System) or SAREB (sanitizing) [18,19]. According to data from the Bank of Spain, the value of direct aid granted to the banking sector has, to date, reached €61 billion (up to 20% this amount could be attributed to their activity in Catalonia, since this region accounts this percentage of the total of mortgage foreclosures carried out in Spain).…”

“…At present, there is a relatively small, although growing, corpus of academic literature that analyses the Spanish mortgage crisis from a geographic perspective. A few studies [48,49] have analyzed the problem for the whole country, using data from its 431 judicial districts (regional scale), while others [18,19] have studied the clustering patterns of properties accumulated by SAREB at a municipal scale for the whole country. However, this scale is highly aggregated and does not allow a focus on the intra-urban level, as most judicial districts are larger than cities.…”

“…However, this scale is highly aggregated and does not allow a focus on the intra-urban level, as most judicial districts are larger than cities. Nevertheless, a few recent studies [15,18,[50][51][52] have used alternative data sources that permit an urban-scale approach for a selected group of cities. This approach is based on spatial analysis methods based on the possibility of geolocating foreclosed housing using these alternative sources.…”

Extracting rents through foreclosures: The rescue of Catalunya Banc as a new urban strategy following the burst of the Spanish bubble

“…Previous studies have also underlined the spatial correlation of these variables in both cities (Gutiérrez & Delclòs 2016). Moreover, this correlation between social vulnerability and the concentration of housing units in the hands of banks has been highlighted in other Catalan and Spanish cities (Gutiérrez & Domènech 2017a, 2017b. In Tarragona, it is relevant to stress their presence in Bonavista, Campclar and Torreforta (neighbourhoods on the west side of the city).…”

“…Thus, once more, the business of private equity funds was both subsidized and promoted. Both of these actions, the transfer of assets to the SAREB and the sale of real estate portfolios, have implied the socialization of the losses of the real estate business of the savings banks and the conversion of private into public debt (Gutiérrez & Domènech 2017b).…”