According to figures released by the Bank of Spain, the financial debt of Spanish households hit a record high last year of €595.18 billion, a direct result it is suggested, of Spaniards being forced to take on ever bigger mortgages to keep pace with the rising tide of the Spanish property boom.

At a increase of 17.5% in a year the rise in debt equates almost exactly to the rise in property prices in Spain generally, and is three times the rate it was back in 1996 - the start of the current property boom.

Interest rates are at bargain-basement levels and in fact Spain is seeing real-term negative rates when inflation is taken into account. But the only way to go now for interest rates in Spain is up and both the Bank of Spain and the IMF warn of the dangers to both the real economy and the financial system from sharp rises in interest rates or a plunge in house prices.

Increasingly British buyers are buying property in Spain, much off-plan, taking advantage of the upward growth and buying with top-up mortgages, at almost half the rate of the rates levied on their UK homes. Until recently second home buying by non-residents was largely confined to coastal strips but this is not so any more and inland property prices are rising in line with holiday properties.

Spanish householders are benefiting from the increased equity but the growth trails that of debt by over 9% and the Bank of Spain has repeatedly warned consumers to rein in spending and debt levels.