Abstract
This paper uses data on housing stock owned by financial entities as a result of foreclosures to analyze (1) the spatial logic of Spain’s mortgage crisis in urban areas, and (2) the characteristics of the types of housing most affected by this phenomenon. Nearest-Neighbor Index and Ripley’s K function analyses were applied in two Catalan cities (Tarragona and Terrassa). The results obtained show that foreclosures tend to be concentrated in the most deprived neighborhoods. The general pattern of clustering also tends to be most intense for smaller and cheaper housing. Our findings show that home foreclosures have been concentrated in only a few neighborhoods and precisely in those containing the poorest-quality housing stock. They also provide new evidence of the characteristics and spatial patterns of the housing stock accumulated by banks in Catalonia as a result of the recent wave of evictions associated with foreclosures.
Highlights
Over the last decade, one of the main manifestations of the global financial crash and related housing crisis has been a proliferation of mortgage foreclosures
The spatial analysis of evictions due to mortgage foreclosures in Terrassa and Tarragona revealed evidence of a non-negligible clustered pattern: HOBs tend to be concentrated in certain neighborhoods of both cities, with this being evident in Tarragona
The study of evictions due to mortgage foreclosures via the proxy of HOBs provides a clear view of the uneven impact that the mortgage crisis has had on urban areas
Summary
One of the main manifestations of the global financial crash and related housing crisis has been a proliferation of mortgage foreclosures. Several case studies have highlighted the existence of “neighborhood effects”, or the direct contribution that foreclosures have made to urban deprivation and forced displacements [20,21] Within this context, it is possible to observe links between the spatial concentration of foreclosures and falling property values at the neighborhood level [22,23,24,25,26]. This approach is based on spatial analysis methods based on the possibility of geolocating foreclosed housing using these alternative sources These studies coincide in pointing that the most deprived urban areas of cities are more affected regarding the concentration of evictions related to mortgage foreclosures. The project has allowed the publication of more than 100 maps in which spatial analysis and data help to support an activist movement of resistance against displacement and gentrification
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