Rise in number of foreclosure sales: up to 20 auctions in one day

Banks that publish ads for foreclosure sales on their own websites have scheduled around 300 auctions by mid-April, with their number rising from one month to another because many of the properties are put up for sale for the third time since buyers are very hard to find.

"There are new foreclosure sales, but also a lot of older sales ads. The real estate market is more or less frozen, and everybody is waiting for the prices to further decline," says bailiff Pavel Mocanu.

The number of foreclosures has risen so much that 20 auctions were organised by a single bank in one day. On March 11th, for instance, BCR put up for sale 27 properties, 21 of which in Bistrita-Nasaud county alone.

Almost a quarter of the around 80 properties foreclosed, set to be sold in the coming period, are properties in Bistrita-Nasaud. A large number of auctions are also organised in Maramures, Suceava, and Hunedoara counties - the areas with the biggest overdue loans. The ratio of overdue amounts to overall loans is as high as 8.4% in Bistrita, compared with the national average of 4.3%, according to data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania).