According to a report published by a Madrid research group RR de Acuna & Associates, the number of unsold properties in Spain has now reached 1,623,000 - against an annual estimated demand of 218,000. Other recent reports quoted below indicate that of these around 1 million are new-builds and 500,000 of these are located on the Spanish Costas. Right up to 2008 construction companies were still building at the rate 800,000 new dwellings annually, until the recession hit the Spanish economy.
The consequences are far-reaching and include the reduction of the building sector from 18% to around 5% of Spain's GDP, and fears of unemployment peaking at 25% before the economy starts to recover, not before 2012 according to Acuna.
In contrast, according to Notaires de France, some 500,000 property sales are expected to be registered in France during 2009.
(Source Daily Telegraph, 24 September 2009)