Now I understand why my friends, after having lived in sunny Costa del Sol for so many years, decided to go back to cold, dreary and wet Belgium.
As I understand it...Spain for years had a rule about foreign ownership...so you had a bunch of guys who acted as middle-men and arranged the purchase, and just counted on retirees to continue to pay. Well...the middle-guys got caught up in a massive build-up, and never expected the market to dry up so quickly, or for pension-fund people to suddenly lose all their real savings.
What you have left are modest and small apartments or cottages, which are all out near the beach regions.
I took a vacation to the Canary Islands back in the late 90s. Actually did a tour of a cottage, which the real estate guy was talking up for roughly $50k but it was barely 800 square feet, and with no frontyard (barely a 30 x 30 foot spot for the backyard). This ownership role that he was going to play bothered me. I’d never really own the property myself. Then I figured out the electrical costs....almost the same monthly bill as the mortgage.