Eviction rate lower than previously reported?

Published on 23 May 2013 at 14:43

Might the figure of 39,000 families evicted from their homes in 2012, quoted by several newspapers, have been inflated? Reading data published by the Bank of Spain, it would seem so. According to the banks carrying out forced evictions, "only" 2,405 owners were forced to leave their properties in 2012 because there were unable to keep up their mortgage payments.

This is, finally, "the truth about the evictions" reports Jesus Rivasés, director of the weekly magazine Tiempo. For the magazine, these figures cast doubt on the numbers quoted in other reports and by collectives opposing the evictions as platforms for those affected by them.

It is clear that the vast majority of 6.14m current mortgage loans are being repaid. There are only 2,405 cases in which owners have had to hand the keys of their homes over to the banks, while the police were called in only 355 cases. The figures are embarrassing for those who think that evictions number in the hundreds of thousands, and also for those who think that they are exceptions. […] What remains is plenty of demagogy and other collateral effects, including "the unmaskings" – the public pressure on legislators, pure and simple. Now, fortunately, everything is clearer [...] The numbers reflect the reality of a series of dramas and the personal tragedies of many families – but this relates to a smaller number of families, rather than the number previously mentioned.

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