Owners of Spanish properties are being forced to dramatically cut their asking prices to attract purchasers claim recent media reports.

It is estimated there are close to 600,000 homes on the market looking for a buyer and another 200,000 developments still waiting to be completed.

The Bank of Spain figures show that prices have fallen 17 percent in the last four years with many sellers reducing their sales prices by up to 40 percent.

But this has created opportunities for fly to let holiday home buyers who have been picking up bargains at the bottom of the market in the hope they will see their investments increase in value in the long term when the market picks up again.

Former deterrents have been the week pound/euro exchange rate and the difficulty in finding a mortgage in Spain.

But there are now reports that banks in Spain are taking action to shift the backlog of properties they have taken over from developers who have gone bust by offering attractive deals such as 100 percent mortgages over 40 years.