The mortgage crisis and evictions in Barcelona: identifying the determinants of the spatial clustering of foreclosures (original) (raw)
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ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2018
This paper uses data on housing stock owned by financial entities as a result of foreclosures to analyze (1) the spatial logic of Spain's mortgage crisis in urban areas, and (2) the characteristics of the types of housing most affected by this phenomenon. Nearest-Neighbor Index and Ripley's K function analyses were applied in two Catalan cities (Tarragona and Terrassa). The results obtained show that foreclosures tend to be concentrated in the most deprived neighborhoods. The general pattern of clustering also tends to be most intense for smaller and cheaper housing. Our findings show that home foreclosures have been concentrated in only a few neighborhoods and precisely in those containing the poorest-quality housing stock. They also provide new evidence of the characteristics and spatial patterns of the housing stock accumulated by banks in Catalonia as a result of the recent wave of evictions associated with foreclosures.
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020
The article analyses the socio-spatial logic behind the accumulation of foreclosed housing in the hands of large private landlords in the neighbourhoods of all the Catalan cities with over 100,000 inhabitants. Spatial regression and clustering techniques are applied to identify the determinants of the concentration patterns of 10,725 housing units in these cities. The socioeconomic variables, such as income level, percentage of foreign population, level of studies or percentage of unemployed residents, are identified as key explanatory factors of clustering of foreclosures in working-class neighbourhoods. A high presence of previously mortgaged homes is a variable especially relevant in the case of working-class neighbourhoods, but it has no incidence in the case of the medium-high class neighbourhoods. Our findings provide a detailed urban geography of the housing accumulated by banks which, at the same time, correspond to areas in which the vulture funds are focusing their business in the present and in the forthcoming years. New evidences of the spatial logic of the housing crisis and detailed information for the understanding of the new scenarios that have emerged during the post-crisis phase are revealed.
Spanish mortgage crisis and accumulation of foreclosed housing by SAREB: a geographical approach
Journal of Maps, 2017
SAREB (Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Reestructuración Bancaria – Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Restructuring of the Banking System) has played a key role in the process of restructuring the Spanish banking system and managing the property assets of the banks since the bursting of the housing bubble. This company has concentrated the housing stock that the rescued banks had accumulated through foreclosures. As a result, the identification of the territorial patterns of its assets is key to understanding the spatial logics of the housing crisis in Spain. There are no publicly available data about the location of the housing stock in the hands of SAREB. For this reason, the study explores an alternative secondary source. The resulting map allowed the researchers to check the utility of this source and to carry out calculations of spatial correlation using indicators relating to the impact of the property boom in different municipalities. This made it possible to spatially correlate exposure to the hyperproduction of housing and the concentration of housing in the hands of SAREB as a result of mortgage foreclosures and to open a route towards a novel geographical reading of Spain's mortgage crisis.
Die Erde, 2017
The Spanish mortgage crisis has resulted in a massive process of home dispossession through foreclosures. This process forms part of the logics of accumulation by dispossession supported by the Spanish financial and real estate model. The article uses the city of Lleida as a case study to show that the effects of this phenomenon has tended not to be spatially homogenous, but rather to be more concentrated in the most deprived urban areas. The analysis has been focused on two approaches: (1) identifying the characteristics of housing affected by foreclosure processes that have resulted in evictions, and; defining the spatial distribution patterns of this housing. This work demonstrates how evictions due to mortgage foreclosures have followed very clear patterns. Firstly, they have predominantly been focused on lower quality housing (identified in this study as the cheapest and smallest properties). Secondly, Getis-Ord Gi* spatial statistic has been used to show that they have been concentrated in the most deprived areas of the city. Both issues confirm the central hypothesis of our study: the Spanish mortgage crisis has exacerbated existing urban disparities. Zusammenfassung Die spanische Immobilienkrise führte zu massiver Wohnraumenteignung in Folge von Zwangsräumungen. Dieser Prozess ist Teil einer Logik der Akkumulation durch Enteignung, die durch das spanische Finanz-und Wohnungs-marktsystem begünstigt wird. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt anhand der Fallstudie der Stadt Lleida, dass sich die Effekte dieses Phänomens tendenziell nicht als räumlich homogen erweisen, sondern vielmehr in den am stärksten benachteiligten städtischen Räumen konzentriert auftreten. Die Analyse legt ihren Fokus auf zwei Ansätze: (1) die Identifikation von Charakteristika des Wohnraumes, der von Kündigungsprozessen und infolge dessen von Zwangsräumungen betroffen ist, und (2) die Bestimmung der räumlichen Verteilungsmuster dieser Wohngebiete. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass Räumungen durch Zwangsvollstreckungen sehr klaren Mustern folgen. Erstens fokussieren sie vorwiegend auf Wohnraum geringer Qualität (der in der vorliegenden Studie als preisgünstigster und kleinster Wohnraum definiert wird). Zweitens wurde Getis-Ord Gi* als Tool für räumliche Statistik verwendet, um zu zeigen, dass sie sich in den am stärksten benachteiligten Bereichen der Stadt konzentrieren. Beide Aspekte bestätigen die zentrale Hypothese der Studie: Die spanische Immobilienkrise hat existierende städtische Disparitäten verschärft.
Erdkunde
The article analyses the uneven geography of foreclosed housing owned by large private landlords in Catalonia. A Negative Binomial Model is applied to identify the local determinants of the concentration patterns of 32,941 housing units in Catalan cities. Indicators of socioeconomic vulnerability, such as the percentage of foreign population or the percentage of unemployed residents, are identified as key explanatory factors of the regional geography of housing accumulated by banks which, in turn, correspond to areas in which global corporate landlords are focusing their business for profiteering from the rental market in the current expansionist phase of the housing cycle. Our findings demonstrate that the concentration of properties in the most vulnerable areas was fuelled by foreclosures responsibility of banks rescued with public funds. In tandem, we provide detailed information for the understanding of the new scenarios that have emerged during the post-crisis phase.
Home dispossession: the uneven geography of evictions in Palma (Majorca)
Affordable housing, either owner-occupied or rented, is regarded as a key element of social reproduction. However, processes of housing commodification and financialization have increasingly resulted in precariatization of the population and the loss of the right to housing. In the Spanish case, neoliberal policies geared to the revalorization of built environments had caused a housing bubble of historical magnitude. Since it burst, a large number of households have been dispossessed of housing, clearly reflected in the avalanche of foreclosures and evictions that hit Spanish cities as the crisis unfolded. This paper focuses on the urban area of Palma (Majorca) by analyzing the foreclosures exerted on homeowners and the evictions of tenants who, from the start of the crisis of 2008, have not been able to afford their mortgage payments or rents. These evictions and foreclosures are correlated with the social status of the urban areas affected. The results show that the increase of evictions and foreclosures has emerged unevenly around the city. While tenant evictions have affected all types of urban areas, foreclosures have become much more evident in urban areas of low social status.