The recent news that the Spanish developer Llanera is going to be closed down after failing to emerge sustainably rom bankruptcy proceedings is reported to have sent a shiver down the spines of many Spanish developers, as it shows that the banks are now making the tough decisions as to which developers to keep alive, and which ones to kill off. Many developers have been kept on life support, but it looks like banks are getting closer to pulling the plug….
From now on banks are “going to decide which developers to save, and which ones not to,” said Javier Kindelan, from CB Richard Ellis, quoted in the Spanish press.
Mikel Echavarren, head of the property consultancy Irea, and a bit of a maverick in the Spanish real estate sector because he never sugarcoats the bad news, forecasts that all developers will go the way of Llanera unless 1) they have a stream of rental incomes to pay the bills, 2) they have finished developments with a sales value in excess of any debts, or 3) they can count on the support of a bank to keep them alive.