Economic recovery of Spain to slow if bubble bursts again

 

Out of work builders have been forced to search for employment elsewhere since the decine Spanish property market. Almost 75% of all jobs in the building sector were lost when the countries housing bubble burst in 2008.

Spain now has the euro zone's highest rate of unemployment - currently standing at 20%, with the majority on the costas where the rate of construction was booming from the year 2000 onwards, since when Spain has built around 700,000 new properties each year.

Howevere, in 2008 a glut of properties brought with it a price slump and saw many property developers file for bankruptcy.

Recently Spain's property market has seen a few green shoots of recovery, with sales rising by 30% in August and prices in the third quarter of 2010 only falling by 3.4% on the same period in 2009.

The home purchase tax deduction expires on December 31st, when it will become more apparent how many homes remain unsold. - It is estimated that as many as 16% of all Spanish properties are now unoccupied.

At the height of the property boom, back in 2000, Spain was building as many new properties as the combined total of France, Germany and Britain.