And sales are down 20pc so far this year, according to a survey of estate agents by Idealista.com, a leading Spanish property portal.

During February Idealista surveyed 400 estate agents all over Spain for their views on the property market today. These were the main findings:

– Discount to asking price accepted by vendors: 30pc of vendors accepted up to 10pc lower, 43pc accepted between 10 and 20pc lower, 19pc between 20 and 30pc less, and 7pc more than 30pc less.

– Change in stock of properties for sale since the end of 2010: 58pc of agents reported an increase.

– Vendor openness to offers: 88pc more open than a year ago.

– Main reasons why sales fall through: Vendors asking too much in 26pc of cases, buyers offering too little in 40pc of cases (remember, this is all in the opinion of estate agents), and banks not giving finance in 34pc of cases.

– Enquiries so far this year: Falls up to 20pc or more say 51pc, whilst 24pc say an increase of up to 10pc.

– Sales so far this year: Falls of up to 20pc or more say 71pc, whilst 19pc say an increase of up to 10pc.

– Expectations for the first quarter of the year (compared to same period last year): 47pc say worse, 27pc say the same, 26pc say better.

– Expectations for this year: 33pc say worse, 28pc say the same, and 38pc say better.