Spanish property in for a long hard ride, says C&W's Cooke

The crisis in the Spanish real estate sector may be bottoming out but recovery is still a long way off, Roger Cooke, managing partner at Cushman & Wakefield Spain, has told PropertyEU.

On the back of a booming national residential property sector in recent years, Spanish real estate companies such as Metrovacesa and Colonial grew to become major players in the European real estate sector. Commenting on the recent faltering of the once vibrant Spanish sector, Cooke said: 'A series of factors have coincided to make it difficult for all the players in market. And it is even more difficult to anticipate where it is going in future.'

'My view is we have come down pretty fast, pretty quickly,' said Cooke. 'I suspect we are going to approach the bottom fairly soon, but I have a hunch the bottom will be a fairly long rather that a short, swift road to recovery.'

Cooke said a series of indicators was beginning to show some positive signs, but there was a long way to go. 'We need stabilisation, we need confidence, and I think we need to change the image of the real estate industry generally.'

'The American elections results are key, as are the reduction in interest rates and stabilisation in the stock markets. A whole series of small steps are fundamental to getting confidence back.'