Proinba, The Developers’ Association of the Balearics, claim the inventory of new homes for sale in the islands has shrunk to between just 1,700 an 1,800 new homes, which will be sold in the course of this year, pushing up prices next year.

As a result, there will be “serious difficulty in containing prices” in 2013 warns José Guillén, President of the association, recently quoted in the Spanish press.

The developers estimate there is pent-up demand for 20,000 new homes in the Balearics,, implying a serious housing shortage in the not-too-distant future. “If we fail to plan for this we will have a serious housing problem on the islands, especially for young adults.”

The new housing inventory in the Balearics is the lowest in Spain, at just 0.35pc of the total housing stock, compared to a national average of 3pc, all according to figures provided by the developers and reported in the press.

Proinba has called on the Government to make it easier to get planning approvals for new projects, and adapt regulations “to the new times and the new economic reality”, for example by removing size restrictions and other regulations that drive up the cost of new housing.

“We don’t expect the sector to be as big as it was, just to return to normality,” said Guillén, quoted in the Spanish press.

Construction completions in the Balearics are down 75pc since the peak in 2007, and planning approvals down 91pc, which means an empty pipeline looking a few years down the road, and little new housing coming onto the market today. “We will soon be in a period with no new housing being built,” warns Guillén.

This is all part of what the seasoned property journalist Graham Nowrood might mock as the Balearic Defence.