Spanish contractors braced for upturn as incomplete homes fall.
Spain’s demolition contractors were among the worst hit when the global recession took hold in 2008. But with a huge number of unfinished and partially complete homes now facing the very real prospect of demolition, beleagured Spanish crews are readying themselves for a long overdue upturn in their fortunes.
Daniel Anka had a staff of 450 in Spain preparing for new developments before the property crash. With about a 10th of that workforce left, he’s now waiting for a call from the country’s bad bank so his trimmed-down crew can start knocking down half-built homes that aren’t worth completing.
Anka may not have long to wait as Sareb, the unit holding soured real estate assets from Spain’s nationalized banks, orders work to stop on about 160 of the 650 partially-completed building projects on its books and decides which ones are worth completing. A small number of them may be demolished, said two people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified by name because it isn’t public.
“We expect the bad bank will start to seek bids for some demolition projects starting this summer,” said Anka, chairman of Madrid-based Anka Demoliciones and vice-chairman of the Spanish Association of Demolition Businesses.
About 680 million euros of the 11.4 billion euros of real estate on the bad bank’s books represent uncompleted housing developments, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Work has stopped at projects representing about a quarter of that amount, they said.
The bad bank’s readiness to consider demolition means it’s recognizing the scale of the excess housing supply that was created before the boom turned to bust, Rodriguez de Acuna said.
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