Amid the gloom of Spain’s moribund residential housing market, there is room for a little gallows humour. These days, visitors to the Madrid offices of Knight Frank, one of the world’s largest real estate agents, might be given a white hard hat, fetchingly adorned with the company logo.

“They come in handy against the fall-out from the housing collapse,” says Frédéric Mangeant, managing partner. “We are in for a rough ride.