Thousands of houses for sale to cover debts

More than 20,000 houses have been put up for sale in Greece over the last 12 months because their owners are unable to meet their obligations, particularly regarding mortgage payments. Fearing that their bank accounts will be frozen or their properties confiscated, owners are being forced to put their homes on the market at prices low enough to attract buyers and to pay their way out of financial troubles. This is the picture conveyed to Kathimerini by property market professionals who are closely monitoring developments related to the process of bad loan settlements, and especially as regards mort- gages. Giorgos Litsas, head of chartered property surveyors GLP Values, which cooperates with credit institutions in the assessment of properties, says that some 10 to 15 percent of the existing stock of unsold houses – i.e. between 20,000 and 25,000 properties – involve cases where owners have found themselves at an impasse. bill which reduces the number of machines, aiming at a smaller exposure to gambling and a more effective supervision by the authorities. OPAP, Europe’s fourth-biggest betting firm, has said it will conclude the rollout of 16,500 video lottery terminals (VLTs) by May next year. The company plans to subcontract another 18,000 machines. OPAP, which was fully privatized in 2013, offers sports betting and lotteries through a network of about 5,750 outlets in Greece and Cyprus via a revenue-sharing scheme with agents. and NGB Leasing as well as its corporate loan portfolio in Serbia to Hungary’s OTP Bank for 125 million euros. OTP said in statement that the deal includes other Serbian units of National Bank of Greece too. The agreement increases OTP’s Serbian banking unit’s market share to 5.7 percent, making it the seventh biggest in Serbia’s banking market, according to OTP. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, the Hungarian lender added in its statement.