Spain’s leading construction firm goes bust

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by Gill Montia

Spain’s property market crash has claimed its largest victim so far. One of the countries biggest developers, Martinsa Fadesa, has declared itself insolvent.

The demise of Martinsa Fadesa has been attributed to an oversupply of properties and rising borrowing costs.

The group has been unable to refinance its debt and will now begin selling its assets to pay off creditors.

Shares in the Spanish property sector dropped sharply in response to the news on fears that the country’s other developers are now at risk.

According to APCE, the association of Spanish property developers, house prices have fallen by 15% since September of last year.

In some regions over 50% of the new homes built in the past three years are unoccupied.

Meanwhile, Britons who have chosen to live in Spain during their retirement years continue to struggle with the fall in the value of sterling; the euro has risen 12% against sterling in the past year.

The scandal of homes being bulldozed because (despite having planning permission) they are seen as an affront to the Spanish coastline continues and according to reports in the press, tens of thousands of Britons on the Costa Blanca could lose their right to free healthcare.

Spanish authorities are claiming that elderly Britons are becoming a burden to local hospitals.