Spanish Housing Pain

News from Spain

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had seen a very large R/E bubble in Spain this Spring of 2006 when I was there for a month. I believe it could be perhaps the largest bubble in Europe.
Because of this I have kept an eye on Spain’s housing market as an early warning indicator of a broader housing decline across the rest of Europe.

A rapid decline there would be a sign of a coming pull back in Northern Europe.
This is the first news I’ve seen and probably more ominous than the report implies.

Vern

From Spain. “Property professor José Antonio Pérez tells us that prices of residential properties reach their ceiling at 300,000 euros, and from there on sales have more or less stopped. He talks of fear in the property investment market. ‘Many investors are beginning to get very nervous right now, afraid they will not be able to sell. So they end up selling at below market value,’ he says.”