The Spanish property crash continues unabated and it is now getting to the point where the massive – and we do mean massive – amount of repossessed property in Spain is in danger of bringing the country to it’s knees. Despite the quiet injection of 60 billion Euros by the European Central Bank in to the Spanish property market by way of covered bond purchases in May, 2009 – we have now reached the point of no return we feel.
More on Repossessions in Spain – Are There Any Estate Agents Left in Spain
Another round of losses in the third quarter shows continuing weakness in the world’s real estate markets. Although property investment in Singapore ticked up slightly in the third quarter, more bad news from major developers and property investment vehicles show continuing declines in prices, sales volumes and profitability. US luxury home builder Toll Brothers posted a Q3 loss of $472.3 million, and GPT group in Sydney, Australia posted a US$995 million loss for the first half of the year.
More on Investing in property – the big boys are starting to hurt badly
For the last two years, the Spanish banks have been slowly but surely turning themselves in to the biggest property owners in the country. The amount of “debt for equity,” swaps and bank repossessions is almost impossible to calculate. In fact, there is a suggestion that the banks themselves do not know exactly how much property they own. Obviously the intention behind this practice has been to artificially inflate the value of property and prevent a complete collapse.
More on Repossessed Property in Spain reaches epic proportions
