Unsold apartment crisis
16/03/2013 00:00
Linda Rama: Between Family, Work and Albania’s Future 18/08 14:30
Many citizens have been unable to pay their mortgage, due to the fewer
revenues. This has increased the cases when banks seize the homes and
put them on sale.
“With the privatization of bailiff offices, banks have found a solution for receiving back their investments. There are many cases of properties that are on auction. There are cases when they are sold for being good properties, but sometimes these objects are not sold and remain to banks’ portfolios”, declared Ilda Zaloshnja, representative of a real estate office.
Property experts say that the demand is lower each day, and this is stalling the market.
“The demand is mostly oriented to the suburbs, where prices are lower. But the demand is much lower compared to last year”, Zaloshnja declared.
Another reason for the lower demand is also the crisis in Europe, which started in the US.
“However, builders have never lowered prices”, the expert says.
On the other hand, banks have made it more difficult for clients to apply for loans, due to the increased number of bad loans. There’s an increase from 9% to 11%. According to the Builders’ Association, the number of unsold apartments reached 12.000 in 2012. The biggest number was in tourist areas, where there was a construction boom.
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