Spain's zombie property comes back to life as concrete skeletons turn a profit

Spain's zombie property comes back to life as concrete skeletons turn a profit

Almost two decades after being left half-built, the concrete skeletons that dotted the Spanish landscape have come back to life. Housing demand and the arrival of workers drawn by job opportunities have turned the relics of the bubble into assets that have doubled or tripled in value. The examples are no longer isolated anecdotes.

From ruin to return: two cases with numbers

The Ciudad Ros Casares development in Valencia is the clearest case. Those lofts, once offered for nearly €200,000 at the height of the bubble, ended up in the bank's hands. Around 2017, the bank put them up for sale at about €70,000. Today they sell for more than double. Elsewhere, the same story with different players: finished skeletons converted into lofts that sold for €50,000 or €60,000 a few years ago and have already doubled in price.

On the other side of the country, the Intempo skyscraper, abandoned for 15 years, is now a tourist landmark in Benidorm. And the Nueva Valdeluz project has resumed development to expand residential land. Photographer José Hinojosa Corbacho immortalised these skeletons in his series 'Esqueletos de Hormigón'. Two decades on, their leading players have changed roles: no longer ruins, but a promise of profit.

The risks of buying a skeleton

Not everyone sees it so clearly. The structures thrown up in a hurry during the economic miracle were not known for their quality, and nearly two decades of abandonment may have damaged elements that were never covered. It is also worth remembering that next to every recovered development, another is usually rising that could be left half-finished in the next crisis. A country like Sisyphus, with the brick rolling back up the hill.

The question nobody can answer is how long this second life will last. When the pendulum swings back, the skeletons of the next cycle will already be waiting.