MADRID, Spain: The phones don't ring off the hook any more at Spanish real estate offices, once the beneficiaries of a sizzling property market. In fact, they hardly ring at all.
Sharply higher interest rates, a glut of homes and newly jittery banks have come together to stall the engine that has driven one of Europe's top-performing economies for more than a decade. And as the market slows, so has Spain's economic growth.