1 Euro Home, anyone?

Italy’s attempt to save decaying regional villages

Surrounded by beautiful nature and ancient history, Italy is also blessed with delicious food and a mild climate. Many people worldwide, including myself, are overwhelmed by its charm and travel to or live in this country, which has the most UNESCO heritage sites in the world (58, as of 2022). What would you do if you could buy a house in this beautiful Italy for only one euro, at the cost of a shot of espresso?

1 Eurohouses.com

According to Eurohome.com, it has been almost 14 years since the first 1 Euro home was put on the market in the village of Salemi, Sicily, and many people have heard about the Italian "1 Euro home" as it has been featured on CNN and other media around the world. The sale of these homes has slowed down during the Covid pandemic, but the easing of Covid restrictions has led to a resurgence in previous purchase activity.

1 Eurohomes are located primarily in southern Italy, concentrated in Sicily, Calabria, Molise, Basilicata. (see map below). As I write this blog, 25 or so municipalities, including those in Marche, Abruzzo, and Liguria regions, are offering 1 Eurohomes for sale through this program.

（1eurohouses.com)

Why is a house for sale for only 1 euro?　The common denominator of all the participating municipalities is that they are all located in remote areas, most of them in earthquake zones, and are currently suffering from depopulation as residents leave their villages searching for work and safety. Many homes remain in ruins, leaving only the elderly behind and turning the entire town into a ghost town. Adding to the problem is the dwindling number of descendants who will inherit abandoned houses. In Italy, where the birth rate is among the lowest in Europe, most of the descendants have no desire to return home to depopulated villages or inherit taxable "junk" home, so the problem of how to dispose of many abandoned houses ultimately has become a burden on the shoulders of municipalities.

The 1 Euro Home initiative was conceived to prevent this decline in population and the abandonment of homes, and in the long term, to restore the vitality of the community. Moreover, many buyers aim to operate B&Bs and Airbnb, etc. This movement brought the municipalities high expectations for the new tenants, as it suggests a nice added value in the future, such as making depopulated areas into tourist destinations. However, in reality, it appears that the 1-euro offer is rather a symbolic advertising campaign. There are many conditions for purchasing a 1-euro home, such as starting and finishing the restoration of the house on time, paying legal fees and other expenses at one’s own expense. If there are many prospective buyers, the property will be sold to the highest bidder, so the price will be several thousand euros instead of one euro. In addition, legal fees, registration fees, survey fees, and restoration costs can amount to tens of thousands of euros, which is a significant expense.

Still, “1 euro home” continue to show popularity. It is common to see ads such as "A 1 Euro Home near Rome!" or "At last, a 1 Euro Home in Tuscany!" Most applicants are foreigners, overwhelmingly from North America, and almost no Italians. Despite the struggle with rising rents and mortgages, Italians may still decide that moving to a depopulated area and dealing with joblessness and other disadvantages is not good for them in the long run.

I read a CNN article a few months ago that stated that 80% of the 1 Euro Home buyers in a Sicilian village come from North America; thus the tiny Sicilian village is becoming "Little America," or Sicily's "American Village. Another article reported that the mayor of a village in Tuscany with a population of 800 was overwhelmed with 11,000 applications for 40 "1 Euro homes" in a village with a population of 800! The mayor was so surprised that he immediately suspended new applications.

Would I purchase a 1 Euro Home? The answer is the same as that of most Italians - “Grazie, ma non mi interessa…”(Thank you but I am not interested…).