By Andrew Ede
SAREB is the so-called ‘bad bank’ that was founded by the Spanish Government in 2012 for the management and ultimate divestment of toxic assets transferred from banks that were nationalised as a result of the financial crisis.
In the Balearics, SAREB has 425 apartments on its books, and the government estimates that a great majority of them will meet requirements it has set to be publicly owned and rented out at limited prices. In addition, there are 390 housing units awaiting completion and 56 plots of land for construction.
Nationwide there are an estimated 55,000 homes managed by SAREB and these are to be transferred to a new public housing company set up by the government. The criteria for the apartments in the Balearics include municipalities’ populations. Essentially this will mean municipalities with more than 1,000 people; there are only a few below this threshold. Others are the usable area of the properties and structural soundness. For the plots of land, these will have to be in municipalities with 5,000 or more residents.
As well as the SAREB properties, the government is analysing the viability of using Ministry of Defence plots for development.
Six months ago, the Balearic Government signed an agreement to purchase ten SAREB properties and two plots of land. These were in Felanitx, Inca, Palma and Porreres. They will be public property for social rent. The cost of the ten properties was €1,389,000, excluding taxes.
The two plots, which cost two million euros, were in the ParcBit technology park in Palma. These will not be used for housing; they will be for new buildings for businesses.