Expat investors offered Spanish ghost villages for free

If you’ve been tempted to buy a ruined Italian village house for €5 and renovate it, the latest Spanish offering may be even better value for money!

Spain has gone one better in the drive to re-establish its deserted villages by offering entire, abandoned medieval hamlets either for free or at incredibly cheap prices. The reasons for the sale of the century are the same as in other European rural areas where local populations have been decimated by young people leaving to work in the big cities and the elderly dying of old age.

One example is the 15th century A Barca village, now being given away free to an investor willing to take it on and bring it back to life. For those interested, proof of a viable plan as regards renovation of the entire village and its dilapidated homes must be provided, and the majority of buyers of ‘ghost hamlets’ to date are from the UK, Norway, Russia, the USA and Germany.

For a less arduous and expensive renovation, entire villages such as Pena Vila, located in Galicia, are on the market for sums of around €62,000. In total and according to Spain’s National Statistics office, some 2,900 such abandoned villages are scattered across the country, giving plenty of choice for would-be entrepreneur investors keen on preserving the past at any cost and gaining local approval at the same time.