Metrovacesa on Friday confirmed plans to sell the London headquarters of HSBC back to the bank for £838m (US$1.3bn), £170m less than what it paid for the Canary Wharf property just 18 months ago.

The news came as another Spanish property group, Habitat, filed for creditor protection owing €2.3bn in debt, marking the second-biggest corporate failure in the country this year. Colonial, once the country’s biggest developer by market value, also warned this week that it could struggle to meet debt commitments.