Last year, e-auctions auctioned 7,945 properties under debt enforcement proceedings. This volume corresponds to almost 60% of the total of 13,372 seized assets advertised in 2022 on the electronic portal designed and managed by the Order of Solicitors and Enforcement Agents (OSAE). The main reason leading to sales at an electronic auction is related to failure to meet bank obligations, said Duarte Pinto, president of the professional council of OSAE’s College of Enforcement Agents. Since the creation of this portal, properties have topped the list of auctioned assets.
Of the properties, rights, furniture, equipment and vehicles (the top five assets auctioned), the most expensive property auctioned last year was a five-star hotel, valued at €16 million. The cheapest was a brand for 1.23 euros. According to Duarte Pinto, it is not possible to guarantee that these transactions have taken place, “since the adjudication is carried out in the relevant judicial proceedings”. The official told DN/Dinheiro Vivo that the portal will “predictably” have generated a transaction volume of around 530 million euros by 2022, which represents an increase of 18.1% compared to the 448.5 million recorded in 2021. also increased, with 407 more registrations than in 2021.
Thus, e-auction activity shows signs of recovery and even shows values higher than the pre-pandemic period. In the two years marked by the pandemic (2020 and 2021), sales fell compared to the volume generated in 2019. As Duarte Pinto recalled, “the suspension of deadlines had a major impact on e-auction activity”. At the time of the pandemic, the government has issued a series of restrictions on executive measures, which forced the suspension of auctions by law enforcement officials, as well as the practice of acts, deadlines and processes, which prevented them from moving on to the stage of seizure and sale of goods. These were measures to protect citizens and businesses in the most acute period of the health crisis. At the same time, investors also pulled back given the uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the pandemic and its effects on the economy. Meanwhile, and “gradually, the recovery was felt, albeit with withdrawals after the start of the conflict in Eastern Europe,” he underlined.
bankruptcies are growing
This year, “sales volume is rising significantly, it is expected to exceed 2022 figures,” he added. Despite the portal’s contribution to the process of repaying creditors, it is still far from being able to market all the assets offered for auction. Since its commissioning (May 2016), a total of 107,571 assets have been auctioned to date, of which only 76% have been acquired, i.e. 82,088 auctions (72,606).
Is that in the case of default on a home loan and subsequent execution, the real estate that responds in the first place is the real estate. The attachment always applies to the goods given as collateral, regardless of the amount of the debt. Rights (12,261), furniture (8075), equipment (6730) and vehicles (6242) follow in the ranking. The total value of transactions is expressive. In its nearly seven years of operation, the e-auction portal has generated a turnover of EUR 5,629 million, a figure that is constantly revised, as processes are often not completed in the year in which they begin.
All of these assets are the result of commitments for debts, processed in court through executive actions for collection of assets. It is voluntary non-payment that leads to seizure. It was the Ministry of Justice that promoted the legal framework that enabled the creation of the e-auction portal, which was developed by OSAE and is also managed and operated by the Bar Association. The process is completely digital, from the announcement of the sale to the tenders and the actual sale of the asset. According to Duarte Pinto, the portal is a “guarantee of total transparency”, of “valuation of goods for sale and the mode of judicial sale with the highest values”.
An indicator of the state of the economy is data on corporate failures, which can lead to repossessions. In the first three months of this year, there was a year-over-year increase of 19% in this variable. According to Informa D&B data, 496 companies have filed for insolvency, 78 more than in the same period of 2022. This growth is seen across most industries, with an emphasis on construction, where they nearly doubled from the first quarter of the year. last year . It is a break in trend, taking into account that a total of 1629 insolvency proceedings were registered last year, a decrease of 16.8% compared to 2021.
Sónia Santos Pereira is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
