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SHOTLIST
Ciudad Valdeluz, Guadalajara - 8 February, 2012
1. Wide as high speed trains rushes past ghost town Ciudad Valdeluz
2. Wide shot empty buildings and pavement
3. Wide shot empty streets
4. Mid main street, sparse traffic
5. Wide pan flats for sale on deserted street
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joaquin Ormazabal, Mayor of Yebes, a town 13 kilometres from Ciudad Valdeluz:
"What made a difference in our case was the shuttle (high speed train link to Madrid). Also this was a cycle that was going on for some 10 years, and I don't think the Spanish thought much about it. And in the end what happened to us is what happened in many other Spanish towns and on the Spanish coast, that there was a real estate and financial crisis, and I think the party is over."
Sesena, Toledo - 13 February, 2012
7. Wide of apartment owner Juan Carlos Caballero walking out onto terrace to place "For rent" sign
8. Wide of Caballero placing "For rent" sign on balcony, filmed from below
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Carlos Caballero, owner of apartment in Sesena:
"Things are really bad. A lot of people are really regretting buying (their flats). There are people who are facing ruin because they bought here, not just one place but three or four, thinking that property prices were going to keep rising as they had done. But they didn't, and there are people who are really facing financial ruin. They bought as an investment, closed their business to invest the little they had here, and now they have lost everything."
Sesena, Toledo - 8 February 2012
10. Wide pan of empty housing block
11. Mid of empty housing development
12. Close exterior of empty apartment, shutters down
Madrid - 7 February 2012
13. Wide interior Idealista.com offices
14. Mid idealista.com offices
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Fernando Encinar, Head of research, Idealista.com
"There are houses that will never be sold, and we will probably get to a point in the medium term where we will see these houses having to be knocked down, because they were built in the middle of nowhere, there is no demand for them, and it will work out cheaper to knock them down and return the land to nature than to maintain them. It makes sense because if no one wants to look after them they create costs and problems for the communities living near by."
Sesena, Toledo - 8 February 2012
16. Various of empty apartment block
STORYLINE
The high speed train rushes past the new town of Ciudad Valdeluz on its way to Madrid.
The town, 50 kilometres outside the Spanish capital, was built on the back of the super fast train link to Madrid.
More than 9,000 apartments and small houses were supposed to be built there, in a bucolic country setting next to the high-speed train station so workers could get downtown in less than 20 minutes.
But now Ciudad Valdeluz is the town where the train doesn't stop.
It's a ghost town, a mammoth housing complex built during Spain's 10 year construction boom.
Half finished and practically empty, it is one of hundreds of projects that bear witness to the collapse of the property bubble, as banks struggle to sell properties they either invested in or handed out loans for that can no longer be paid.
These abandoned ghost towns, left to slowly decay, have become a familiar part of the Spanish landscape.
Joaquin Ormazabal, the Mayor of nearby Yebes, said no one really paid attention to what was going on until the real estate bubble burst.
The home he himself bought would now sell for about half the price.
"What happened to us is what happened in many other Spanish towns and on the Spanish coast, in the end there was a real estate and financial crisis, and I think the party is over."
Of the 13,000 apartments planned, only 5,100 have been built and most stand empty.
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3cf1ff2835d918c323d67bb742e43a84
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Ciudad Valdeluz, Guadalajara - 8 February, 2012
1. Wide as high speed trains rushes past ghost town Ciudad Valdeluz
2. Wide shot empty buildings and pavement
3. Wide shot empty streets
4. Mid main street, sparse traffic
5. Wide pan flats for sale on deserted street
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joaquin Ormazabal, Mayor of Yebes, a town 13 kilometres from Ciudad Valdeluz:
"What made a difference in our case was the shuttle (high speed train link to Madrid). Also this was a cycle that was going on for some 10 years, and I don't think the Spanish thought much about it. And in the end what happened to us is what happened in many other Spanish towns and on the Spanish coast, that there was a real estate and financial crisis, and I think the party is over."
Sesena, Toledo - 13 February, 2012
7. Wide of apartment owner Juan Carlos Caballero walking out onto terrace to place "For rent" sign
8. Wide of Caballero placing "For rent" sign on balcony, filmed from below
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Juan Carlos Caballero, owner of apartment in Sesena:
"Things are really bad. A lot of people are really regretting buying (their flats). There are people who are facing ruin because they bought here, not just one place but three or four, thinking that property prices were going to keep rising as they had done. But they didn't, and there are people who are really facing financial ruin. They bought as an investment, closed their business to invest the little they had here, and now they have lost everything."
Sesena, Toledo - 8 February 2012
10. Wide pan of empty housing block
11. Mid of empty housing development
12. Close exterior of empty apartment, shutters down
Madrid - 7 February 2012
13. Wide interior Idealista.com offices
14. Mid idealista.com offices
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Fernando Encinar, Head of research, Idealista.com
"There are houses that will never be sold, and we will probably get to a point in the medium term where we will see these houses having to be knocked down, because they were built in the middle of nowhere, there is no demand for them, and it will work out cheaper to knock them down and return the land to nature than to maintain them. It makes sense because if no one wants to look after them they create costs and problems for the communities living near by."
Sesena, Toledo - 8 February 2012
16. Various of empty apartment block
STORYLINE
The high speed train rushes past the new town of Ciudad Valdeluz on its way to Madrid.
The town, 50 kilometres outside the Spanish capital, was built on the back of the super fast train link to Madrid.
More than 9,000 apartments and small houses were supposed to be built there, in a bucolic country setting next to the high-speed train station so workers could get downtown in less than 20 minutes.
But now Ciudad Valdeluz is the town where the train doesn't stop.
It's a ghost town, a mammoth housing complex built during Spain's 10 year construction boom.
Half finished and practically empty, it is one of hundreds of projects that bear witness to the collapse of the property bubble, as banks struggle to sell properties they either invested in or handed out loans for that can no longer be paid.
These abandoned ghost towns, left to slowly decay, have become a familiar part of the Spanish landscape.
Joaquin Ormazabal, the Mayor of nearby Yebes, said no one really paid attention to what was going on until the real estate bubble burst.
The home he himself bought would now sell for about half the price.
"What happened to us is what happened in many other Spanish towns and on the Spanish coast, in the end there was a real estate and financial crisis, and I think the party is over."
Of the 13,000 apartments planned, only 5,100 have been built and most stand empty.
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3cf1ff2835d918c323d67bb742e43a84
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork