The news that one of the Costa del Sol's biggest estate agents has filed for voluntary insolvency has deepened the gloom over southern Spain's property market. Viva Estates was one of the area's biggest success stories. It was set up ten years ago by an Englishman, Chris McCarthy, used the cricketer Ian Botham to raise its profile and within a few years operated from 15 offices. In the past 12 months, all but one of those offices has closed and more than 100 staff have lost their jobs.
“At one time we were selling 200 properties a month,” McCarthy says. “Now we sell around 25. A 90 per cent fall in business is hard for any company to take but we've taken the responsible route. Our advisers said, ‘the option is there to help you so use it', and we have. We have one large office, about 60 staff and we're confident we can keep trading. We have been hit from all sides by economic factors but it's the exchange rate against sterling that has really floored us.”
