Spanish banks seem to have been smart enough to avoid the subprime crisis, and to have diversified their bubbly assets into other, maybe more real assets (foreign banks, foreign companies); ditto Spanish companies which have been on a rampage throughout Europe.
So, I really don't know. We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Which is massive. There are a LOT of empty houses, that promoters expected to sell to well-off Englishmen. Let's see if that happens...
Also, while in the recent past there may have been a lot of youngsters moving away from home (mostly because they kept delaying the move, because prices were so high and because the rental market is very small in Spain), it's unlikely to be strong in the future: Spaniards have very few children. In the short run, it means less need for this extra room, in the longer run it would mean, of course, fewer people. So a lot will depend on immigration.
On the other hand, as you say Spanish banks have been WAY shrewder than Wall Street and bought over much of fast-growing Latin American industries, so the aggregate wealth may not be all that bad. As for distribution issues (which will be very real), I guess yesterday's election is a comforting element. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
