MADRID – Contsa, a Seville-based real estate investment group, declared itself bankrupt on Tuesday and sought protection from creditors, many of them small investors.

Chairman José Salas Burzón blamed the downfall of the 20-year-old firm on the sharp contraction in Spain’s real estate market in recent months after the end of a decade-long housing boom and tighter lending conditions.

Since the Spanish property market began to slow last year, hundreds of real estate agents and developers have shut up shop, leaving thousands of people out of work.

[Copyright EL PAÍS 2008]

Subject: Spanish news