Y ahora que hacemos!

During the years of the housing boom, the construction sector was generating nearly a quarter of the total wealth in Spain, twice as much created by one of the traditional economic mainstays—tourism. Between 2002 and 2008, about four million houses were built in Spain, a fourth of the total number currently existing. The real estate developers owe the banks more than 400,000 million euros and much of this is almost impossible to collect. This circumstance has in part created a situation in which the financial system is now hanging by a thread. This large financial debt, owed largely to entities in other countries, had drowned not only banks, but thousands of families. Paradoxically, while many of the financially strapped families are evicted for not paying their mortgages, more than two million apartments remain vacant in Spain, many in the hands of the banks. How can this housing stock be sold without the financial system being at risk?