This topic contains 17 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by 
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Ok I’ve made this post a bit tongue in cheek but there is also a serious angle to this question,
A couple of years ago I did post on one of the forums that there might come a time when Spain may have to seriously consider the demolition of some of the empty apartment blocks that blight the landscape. Some of them are of poor build quality, others are in areas where there is no demand and the longer they remain unoccupied the more delapidated they will become.
I appreciate that demolishing the buildings wil have an adverse impact on banks’ balance sheets but hey ho they are having to make significant provisions anyway for bad debts. One of the benefits would be to bring more stability to what is a dysfunctional market whilst pushing supply and demand nearer equilibrium.
What do others think ?
Richard
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I doubt it will happen since it will cost more money to tear them down than just let them sit there. Everyone is still hoping for the market to turn around.
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Hear, hear, I also believe that it would be the best for all to knock them down….. stop the greedy banks and their friends the constructors from dragging this disaster out even longer. If those unsold, badly built, in the middle of nowhere, or else an empty block (or two) in a town which honestly doesn’t need a glut of empty properties then go ahead…knock them down. Make them green spaces to make up for the concrete jungle….turn them back into orange, lemon or olive groves. It would improve the quality of life of those who live nearby.
Think of the work it would give to knock them down. The EU should immediately give out contracts to tear them down!!
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They’ve started bulldozing empty/unfinished homes in Ireland following it’s construction boom, and it’s been dubbed ‘bulldoze, not bankers’ meaning they want to stop greedy banks holding on to them.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-19/irela … ubble.html
I agree with you Richard and itsme too. First there are way too many poorly built half-finished blocks in Spain which probably won’t be finished properly nor sold. They blight the landscape too.
Knocking many of them down will create work, and, should have a more positive impact on property prices if 1000’s of the big eyesore blocks were flattened. This would reduce those numbers and may one day help increase prices for the remainder, supply and demand then.
In addition, any new schemes could be smaller maybe more niche build, IMO. 😉
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Now that we are in Ireland we’ve noticed quite a few large grey unfinished houses out here in the countryside. BUT, over just the past week or so we’ve seen four having their work start up again. Maybe it’s the few days of sunshine we’ve had here that has gotten people out with the paintbrushes etc. ?
I am so glad we moved to Ireland. Yes it’s sometimes a bit grey but the stress/sunshine in Spain wasn’t good for us. Here we can feel the positive vibe…even living with my Dad at my age with my husband and children is more positive than in Spain for us…. maybe in cities things are a bit down still but we are new to the place so don’t know all the facts? Happy, friendly people, lovely countryside, fresh air….
Where we are the unfinished houses seem to be well built, well designed but a bit (well a lot) over budget. In my opinion they are worth more than a block of tiny, badly built flats with views of another block of flats?
If we could sell our flat in Spain for the mortgage amount we would save up to buy a little house in Ireland in a shot. Fingers crossed for a Euromillions win! The sun isn’t everything for a day to day life……
The EU needs to demand that Spain knock down their excess stock. Quality not quantity….supply and demand as you say Angie.
Our flat was built 40 years ago and stands stronger than 99% of the new builds in the town. In a town of roughly 12,000 there are nearly 2000 properties for sale. That’s way too much. My friend is a bank manager and they have 90 new empty flats to sell. I bet they won’t be giving any mortgages for private sales until they’ve bribed or begged people to take on mortgages for these flats. If they were turned into a garden they’d be 90 less flats for sale in the market and more mortgages available for private sales.
I wonder how many properties for sale are bank owned new builds? ie: usually without kitchens/bathrooms or never have been lived in (ghost towns)?
How many do each bank have on their books? ie: do Santander have say 15000 unsold, empty flats? Banesto have 12000, BBVA have 12000 etc.? Anyone have stats or do the banks not dare let anyone know?? Interesting….
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itsme, remember the Lottery slogan ‘It could be you’ 😛
When you’ve won, you can fly off to the sun whenever you want, wherever you want and first class too.
We’ve lived in the sun and enjoyed all that, but now we’re happy near friends and family and being able to travel abroad several times a year, especially during the UK Winter. Generally a UK Summer is ok, this week has been great, cooler next week but our friends in Spain can’t stand the heat of June, July and August so it’s swings and roundabouts I think. 😉
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A bit of c4 and there gone shouldn’t cost to much.lol
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Read up on “broken window fallacy” and you will see that it would be very contraproductive.
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@Ardun wrote:
Read up on “broken window fallacy” and you will see that it would be very contraproductive.
It’s an interesting read. In the parable the glass is broken and simply replaced, which I agree seems counterproductive. However, one could argue that the demolition of a surplus apartment block in either a poor state of repair or likely to be in a poor state of affair is not a similar analogy. If the building was demolished it would not be replaced by a similar poorly constructed building. More likely that space would be be tidied up for the benefit of the community.
Richard
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IMO leaving these half finished blocks all over the Costas is counter productive, it must put people off buying opposite or near some of these, it looks ugly, it shows how bad the market is, and is a reminder of the bad old days, so flatten them methinks.
Plant trees 😛 Bring the avocado farms back 😉
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Hic, Enough of those vines rrrrrichhaarddd hic
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@Ardun wrote:
Read up on “broken window fallacy” and you will see that it would be very contraproductive.
If all the windows in Spain were broken, would it not be a good idea to mend them?
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They wouldn’t have any frames as they would have been sold for scrap metal…. 😉
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What I meant was that using resources to demolish “skeleton” structures that can be used in the future perhpaps because it looks bad or to give people jobs is just a waste of resources. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be glad to see them gone. =)
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@Ardun wrote:
What I meant was that using resources to demolish “skeleton” structures that can be used in the future perhpaps because it looks bad or to give people jobs is just a waste of resources. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be glad to see them gone. =)
I agree that you can’t run an economy by knocking stuff down just so you can build it up again (breaking windows and fixing them) although that would still count as growth (shows what a corruptable measurement that is) but my my point is the damage in Spain is already done. Now they’ve already built the crap it might be more pragmatic to accept that the b@st@ards got away with it, knock it down, and start afresh (maybe doing something other than building stuff that nobody wants)
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I agree with Chopera. Just build them ony to destroy them & start again. In the case of Spain this has to be done and it only shows what had happened & how insane it was. Have they learned a lesson from all this. Talking to Spaniards I do not get the impression.
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There have been many demolitions in Almeria province of properties built on rural land and given building licences by corrupt Mayors. The Almazora Valley has been particularly hard hit and many Brits have lost everything. There is no compensation and the courts are full with claims against the Junta. So far rejected by the courts.
I now that’s a different matter from the thread but it does show the authorities will act quickly against non Spanish owners where other illegal developments with bank interests in them get left alone. Or at least remain in the courts system gathering dust.
Here is an example which has been going on for years. I still don’t believe it will ever be demolished.
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