If buying real estate in Europe was on your bucket list, then this might be the perfect opportunity for you as authorities in Italy’s deserted town want to reverse a depopulation trend by offering buyers’ property at an unbelievably cheap price.
The quaint Italian town of Salemi in Sicily is offering its desolated properties for Rs 86 to potential buyers. Houses will be up for auction from next month with the starting price of One Euro. The authorities of the town hope to attract new residents into the town which is facing a shrinking population following the devastating earthquake of 1968 that hit the Sicily’s Belice Valley.
Speaking to CNN, the town’s mayor, Domenico Venuti said, “All buildings belong to the city council, which speeds up the sale and reduces red tape." He further said that before launching the scheme, they first had to recover the old parts of Salemi where the houses are located. They upgraded its infrastructures and services including roads, electric grids and sewage pipes and now the town is ready for the next step.
The Mayor also said the project could not get started earlier due to various bureaucratic issues, and it was considered necessary for the town to receive an external makeover first. Venuti told CNN that it was a long process where not only did they carry out thorough maintenance work to secure the risky crumbly areas, but also had to recover many properties for residential use.
However, the authorities are offering the houses on the condition that buyers renovate the properties.
Similar projects were taken up in other parts of Italy as well where small towns were close to becoming ghost towns. Earlier in June this year, a town named Cinquefrondi, located in the Calabria region of the country, put up its houses for auction on market for sale at just €1. At the time when Italy was facing the deadly effects of coronavirus, Cinquefrondi boasted of being one of the few regions with zero covid-19 cases.
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