Madrid  - Spain's fifth-biggest property developer Habitat on Friday sought banktrupcy protection due to its high debt level.

Two years ago, Habitat ran a debt of more than 2.2 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) to buy Ferrovial Inmobiliaria.

The company was then hit by the crisis of Spain's overheated property sector, which has caused the collapse of several companies.

They included Martinsa-Fadesa, which had run up debts of 5.2 billion euros in the biggest ever banktrupcy case in Spain.

Habitat said it wanted to restructure its financial situation. (dpa)