Three new registers for recording the debts of citizens and businesses to the public and private sectors and their credit assessment will soon be put into operation by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance.
This was stated by Mrs. Theoni Alambasis, Secretary General of the Financial Sector and Private Debt Management of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, in the context of Prodexpo 2025, the leading conference for the real estate market in Greece and SE Europe.
“The first is the credit rating register. It will collect the data of the debts to the public, while whoever is a good payer will receive the corresponding score”, emphasized Mrs. Alambasis. He explained that the data can be obtained from third parties only with the consent of the debtor, while legislative regulation will be required to make it possible to collect debts from leases.
The second is the central credit register, which according to Ms. Alambasis will be housed at the Bank of Greece and will record in detail the payment history of each individual loan of the customers of all banks and financial institutions and the types of collateral provided (mortgages, promissory notes, any court decisions).
“The third is the Private Debt Monitoring Register.
It will have interoperability with the rest of the registers, it will collect data on citizens’ and businesses’ debts and provide the overall information on an anonymized basis” underlined the General Secretary of the Financial Sector and Private Debt Management of the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. He added that these tools will put an end to the asymmetry of information around a prospective borrower, as at the moment there is no view of debts to the public or to third parties.
During the discussion moderated by Mrs. Vicky Karga Kampani, Legal Real Estate Leader of KBVL Law Firm, Deloitte Legal Network, Mr. Stylianos Iliadis, General Manager of Retail Banking and Asset Management of CrediaBank noted that it takes courage, boldness and knowledge to draw up a new housing policy. “Our goal is to gradually resume bringing customers back from the red zone to the green zone. Let mortgage loans start to come to life again” underlined Mr. Iliadis.
He stated that many and important steps must be taken in order for the real estate in the hands of the servicers to be put on the market, adding that CrediaBank will support every effort of the State to give young people the right to housing and creating a family.
For his part, Mr. Ioannis Paloglou, Commercial Director of Teiresias, pointed out that Teiresias is the umbrella for ensuring healthy transactions. “We supply all the banks with detailed reports on the creditworthiness of the candidates for loans,” emphasized Mr. Paloglou, noting that the higher a score someone receives, the more reliable they are. He emphasized that the potential borrower is also given the opportunity to improve his credit rating.
He also mentioned the corresponding platform operated by Teiresias for businesses, which allows them to control any of their transactions. We provide objective information and reduce the asymmetry of information between the traders” added Mr. Paloglou.
Up to 900,000 vacant apartments across the country
Mr. Konstantinos Fotopoulos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the KAPPA Initiative & CEO of Audiomax, took over from Mrs. Kampani, coordinating a very interesting discussion about vacant properties and available solutions. As pointed out by Mr. Konstantinos Gloumis-Atsalakis, General Secretary of Demographic and Housing Policy, it is estimated that there are 700,000 to 900,000 empty apartments throughout the country.
In Attica, 77% of closed apartments are over 35 years old, of which approximately 50% are in apartment buildings, which affects the value of neighboring homes. In this direction, policies have been taken such as the “My House 1 and 2” programs, which in the short term have not been associated with an increase in prices, while 35,000 first homes have already been given to people who would not have access to bank loans, with an average age of 35-40 years.
He also mentioned the implementation of measures to stimulate housing supply, such as “Renovate-Rent”, which enables renovations with a significant down payment, but also VAT exemption for properties that were vacant or used for short-term rental and are now rented long-term. Since the beginning of the year, 700 properties have been included in the measure, according to him. The budget for housing policy measures was calculated by Mr. Gloumi-Atsalakis at 6.5 billion euros, while the next step is the formation of a housing policy body.
Mr. Stratos Paradias, President of POMIDA and UIPI (International Union of Real Estate Owners), emphasized that there is not a sufficient supply of new small-sized houses, while 58% of the country’s houses were built before the 1980s and today the average Greek family does not have the resources to carry out renovations. Important factors that worsen the situation are the tax burden, which combined with ENFIA makes property management particularly expensive, but also the lack of access by landlords to the profile of prospective tenants.
As Paradias pointed out, if the landlord is given the possibility, with the consent of the tenant, to assess the transactional consistency of the tenant, it will pave the way for more houses to be made available at affordable prices, enhancing mobility in the market and improving housing accessibility. He characterized the abolition of the income tax on inherited properties as a good move, suggesting that the fan be opened. Finally, commenting on the inactivity tax, he described it as a “punitive measure”.
For his part, Mr. Dimitris Dimitriou, Architect and General Secretary of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, underlined that the main cause of the housing shortage is found in the unprofitable renovation of old buildings. “On the contrary, Golden Visa is not responsible for the current housing deficit as it is aimed at foreign investors interested in property development,” he said. He also emphasized that without accurate recording of the properties, without cross-checking and updating of data, we will never know the true number of closed properties.
According to what Mr. Dimitriou argued, the utilization of public property can be an important tool for freeing up housing, giving access to more people through social housing programs and strengthening overall housing in the country. He noted that “the era of 10,000 square meter blocks of flats is coming to an end and there is a shift to smaller properties, which will help bring affordable properties to the market in the coming years.”
Source: Skai
I am Janice Wiggins, and I am an author at News Bulletin 247, and I mostly cover economy news. I have a lot of experience in this field, and I know how to get the information that people need. I am a very reliable source, and I always make sure that my readers can trust me.
