A record €45.9bn (£40.6bn) of European non-performing loan deals were closed in the first half of the year, bolstered by the most active second quarter yet, according to Evercore’s H1 European Distressed Real Estate Market report.
With more than €41bn of deals in Q2 alone, total first-half volumes topped all previous years but reflect 44% of the 2017 total, which was the most active year for NPL sales in Europe.
Spain outperformed the rest of Europe in the first half with close to €17bn of transactions – led by the €12.8bn sale of Caixabank’s Spanish REOs portfolio to Lone Star. It will continue to be the most active market in Europe in the near future, accounting for 38% of all live transactions and 76% of planned transactions.
The UK’s NPL market continues to wind down, having disposed of most of its real estate NPLs. Asset management firm UKAR sold a major portfolio of buy-to-let mortgages for €6.1bn to Barclays and Pimco, which was the second-biggest deal so far this year.
Evercore said it expected full year figures to reach similar levels to recent years given the strength of Q2 and the €33.4bn of live deals, the majority of which were in southern Europe.
With €6bn of live sales, Cyprus has the second-highest volume of ongoing transactions, just behind Spain.
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