The European debt crisis is shifting its attention from Greece to Spain now that Greece is considering leaving the Euro Zone. This time it is Spain’s declining property values and failing banks causing concerns. It is estimated that Spain has $230 billion troubled real estate assets. The Spanish government is struggling to deal with the issues due to recession and the 24 percent unemployment rate, one of the world’s largest. Spain’s economy is twice the size of Greece, Portugal, and Ireland combined and its problems are far more deep and massive than Greece.

Banking problems in Spain are centered on BFA-Bankia. After losing 34 percent of its share value in less than one year, the government nationalized the bank on May 9, 2012. Government has pumped massive amount of funds to stabilize the bank. The European Union is also coming up plans to help troubled banks.

Home and office building activity in Spain was the main source of growth for the country for years. At the top of the boom, the construction accounted for 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Unlike in Ireland, Spain did not address the issue immediately when the real estate market tanked.