The Greek IRS is preparing to sell, through an online auction, 1,500 villas in tourist resorts in the country, such as Santorini, Rhodes, Kos, Porto Heli, Paros, Mykonos and other, because their owners do not comply with their tax obligations. After having exhausted all relevant stages, from the notice to the seizure, the next step for the Operational Collection Unit and the Recovery Control Center for Taxpayers with Great Riches, is the auctions in order to enable the Greek government to collect taxes from the wealthy that are hiding from IRS. "The money might have gone abroad, real estate, however, have stayed in Greece", say the administrator staff of the Ministry of Finance, who is handling the case. The Finance Ministry plans to auction the said real estate through the electronic auction platform e-Auction that the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund's (HRADF) uses for the sale of public real estate. They believe that they will attract a strong interest from abroad (from wealthy Arabs, Russians, Americans, Chinese, Germans, etc.), because they are premium properties, as opposed to apartments and residential properties that have lost their value, or land without clear legal ownership status that scare investors, which results in their auctions proving infertile. The Finance Ministry bets that there will always be those financially strong who will seek to acquire a privileged or unique property with just a few clicks. The draft for the auction of such property has other advantages as well: Instead of the IRS chasing people with low incomes and create a humanitarian issue, they aim at owners with expensive and luxurious properties who can live in smaller houses, which they usually own. Moreover, the high value of property (hundreds of thousands or even millions of euro), is a guarantee that the government will find money to settle the debt in full, so that the debtors will not remain "captives" of the IRS.

A luxury villa in Majorca where Diana, Princess of Wales once stayed has been put on the market for US$ 52 million, making it the most expensive property on the island. Castillo Mallorca, located on its own private peninsula has been put up for sale by German-based real estate agents Engel and Voelkers. The 1,400-square meter property is about 20 minutes from Majorca's capital Palma de Mallorca. The villa includes a sauna, gym, piano lounge and billiards room. The main house - there is also a guest house - contains a "Lady Diana" suite which is where the princess stayed. Guest houses, a swimming pool, gardens and terraces also feature in 6,000 square meters of land. Despite Castillo Mallorca's heavy price tag the agents handing the property are pretty confident about a sale. There had already been interest from Chinese, Swiss and Spanish buyers, he added. "This is a unique property in a unique location and we think the current German owner will get something very close to the asking price," a spokesperson for Engel and Voelkers told The Local.

The Spanish government has approved a plan to sell of a quarter of its state-owned properties in a bid to raise hundreds of millions and boost the government's empty coffers. In plans approved last week by Spain's cabinet, some 15 thousand properties - from office buildings to agricultural land - will be put up for sale over the next seven years. The measure is the latest in a series of moves to bring Spain's budget deficit to within the EU target of 3 percent by 2016 from 7.1 percent of GDP last year. A parliamentary commission has drawn up an extensive list of assets that will be sold to private investors in the hope of raising millions to reduce its public deficit. Among those being offered include disused army barracks, an aerodrome on the island of Minorca, a military shooting range and thousands of office buildings. The government said the portfolio will include around 10 buildings "considered unique" that it hopes will be snapped up by potential investors. Among those is a mansion house on Madrid's central avenue, the Paseo de la Castellana, that used to house the Secretary of State for Security, and a country estate in Andalusia comprising 35 thousand acres of natural parkland planted with cork trees. Mariano Rajoy's conservative government announced plans last year to set up a commission to draw up an inventory of all state-owned property and identify those that could be sold off. The first properties to go under the hammer include the former headquarters of RTVE, Spain's state television and radio channel in Madrid and Galicia, and a disused army barracks in Seville. The government has not yet released the portfolio of properties for sale over the next seven years or said whether they will be sold by auction or by public tender. The government is yet to outline how much money it hopes to raise in the asset sell-off. Last year Spain's government raised 90 million euros in sales of state-owned buildings that had lain empty and made a further 37.5 million euros saving by renegotiating rental contracts. Much of the rural property that will be put on the market will be offered with the opportunity for development to create local jobs. For example, La Almoraima, a finca in the Natural Park of Alcornocales, which has been owned by the Ministry of Environment since 1983, is being sold with the option to develop a resort with two golf courses and a five-star hotel. Several months ago Greece's cash-strapped government also detailed its plans to sell 28 state-owned buildings on long-term lease, including tax offices, ministry buildings, and the main police headquarters in Athens.