Business Insider - Italy’s rural towns are in the midst of a revolution as they trial selling homes for as little as 1 euro, or $1.12.
- The radical plans are aimed at combating the effects of urbanization, which is leaving some of Italy’s most picturesque towns and villages deserted and derelict.
- Thanks to widespread media coverage, many of the towns have been inundated with interest from foreign buyers in search of a bargain.
- I recently visited several such towns in Sicily and spoke with numerous foreigners who had decided to invest, as well as town mayors, deputy mayors, and councillors.
- Some conversations were translated by Insider’s associate translation editor Ruqayyah Moynihan.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
“It was an invasion — but a positive one!”
That’s how Giuseppe Cacioppo, the deputy mayor of Sambuca, Sicily, described the sale of his town’s abandoned homes to foreign buyers, the auctions of which started at just 1 euro, or $1.12.
Sambuca succeeded in selling off 16 historical but derelict stone homes to buyers from the US, China, France, Britain, Russia, and Argentina.
It is one of many towns in rural Italy to trial selling homes for just $1 in a last-ditch bid to save rural settlements that have been slowly decimated by urbanization while cities and their suburbs thrive and become overpopulated.
Read more: Italy’s $1 homes might be dirt cheap, but they need a lot of work — take a look inside
It perhaps sounds too good to be true, and there is, of course, always a catch. The properties for sale are almost always in a dilapidated condition, and towns stipulate that buyers must commit to spending thousands of dollars in restoration and renovation to make them habitable again. Some towns even stipulate that you must work there or bring your family in order to purchase a home.
In Sambuca’s case, for example, buyers must agree to spend at least 15,000 euros, or $16,700, on renovations, and hand over a security deposit of 5,000 euros, or $5,600, which is refunded as long as the conditions of the purchase are met.
Despite all of that, foreigners have flocked to Italy’s ghost towns in search of a bargain — particularly those that have received widespread media coverage.
But who exactly are these people willing to throw caution to the wind and invest in properties they may not have even seen, in areas they know nothing about, with no idea of the town’s prospects?