26 images Created 25 Jun 2012
Spanish Housing Bubble
The construction industry has collapsed, leaving hundreds of thousands out of work. Overindebted home-owners face financial misery and have cut back on spending. And the banks are staring at a mounting pile of bad mortgage debts.All of which means that now - just like the UK - Spain's government finds itself borrowing and spending like crazy to stop its economy from collapsing altogether.
The estate developer Francisco Hernando Contreras, aka "El Pocero," (the Drain Man), was the man behind the El Quiñón housing development near Seseña, some 37 kilometers south of Madrid. He originally planned to build 13,000 apartments there during a massive property boom in Spain, but abandoned the project after building only some 5,600 units, accusing Seseña's mayor of paralyzing the project with red tape, and describing an anti-corruption probe by the state prosecutor into the development as a "political campaign."
The estate developer Francisco Hernando Contreras, aka "El Pocero," (the Drain Man), was the man behind the El Quiñón housing development near Seseña, some 37 kilometers south of Madrid. He originally planned to build 13,000 apartments there during a massive property boom in Spain, but abandoned the project after building only some 5,600 units, accusing Seseña's mayor of paralyzing the project with red tape, and describing an anti-corruption probe by the state prosecutor into the development as a "political campaign."
