But in your own reply you have said it, the locals know the system... their is no secret school for local people, they just follow through with all the steps the same way any Brit would do in the UK system.

If people haven't left their brains at the airport then what is the difference? 

The locals also bought land that was rural and had no cedula and no legal planning permission possible, built and then legalised it after a three year period by going to Tarragona and jumping through the hoops there.  That was the way everyone did it.  All the chalets you see around villages here have been built in the same way.  No one was corrupt then they were just using the system to get what they wanted.  My own parents bought here and chose not to go down that road because they feared the precarious legal position it left you in, their choice.  The fact that now you can't get away with that is a pain but a pain for everyone, locals and foreigners alike.  I know Catalans who have pieces of land they always assumed they would build on one day and yet now they now are useless for construction.  Everyone is affected in the same way. 

Ok so yes there has been retro legislation but it isn't correct to present this in a way that makes out that it has been done to predjudice only foreigners.  Governments have a habit of doing this sort of stuff the world over, Spain or Catalunya is no different.  Lots of people came over here and left their brains at home, lots of people bought properties over the net, sight unseen, with no legal investigations, acting only on good faith and a misplaced trust in a friendly voice on a telephone.  Those who remain are probably the ones who indeed didn't leave their brains at home but equally that doesn't mean that all these well publicised cases of Brits having their mansions demolished are necessarily real cases of either corruption or any other dubious sorts of action by authorities.

The sale of so many empty properties now in the hands of the banks here in Spain is the hangover from the property boom that our wonderful free market economy sponsored and encouraged.  Now the bubble has burst and all these properties are now toxic debt the banks are trying to get rid of them.  I really do think Jools' original post has a point, it is a great moment for buying.  But should anyone want to, for God's sake do it the right way and don't skimp on any of the steps.  You have the same possibilities of being hung out to dry as anyone else who might be called Gonzalez or Fabregeus.