With the average UK house price now reaching £268,400, the thought of snapping up something cheaper can feel a bit like a pipe dream.
With countries across Europe – many of them in Italy, no less – increasingly advertising homes for as little as €1 (86p), there’s a feasible chance of getting on the property ladder for less than the price of a pint.
Last year, a €1 house appeared on the market in Saint-Amand-Montrond, France, as the town tried to attract more permanent residents to top up its 9,000-strong local population.
The property was relatively spacious, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a toilet, a larger bathroom, a courtyard and a garage, but the catch was that it was a complete doer-upper.
It hadn’t been lived in for 12 years, and as such, the local town hall estimated that the renovations would total €127,800 (£110,281) – though the town itself pledged to cover the costs.
So, what’s the reality behind the €1 houses, and why are they being sold for so little cash?
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Why are Italy and France selling houses for €1?
There’s a reason European countries are selling off houses for so little.
There have been similar cases in Italy, where places like Taranto, Pettineo, Pratola Pelinga, Sant’Elia a Pianisi and Sambuca di Sicilia have offered up €1 house purchase schemes over the last few years.
The reasons are the same as in France: to encourage people, particularly younger generations, into the local area to stabilise the population.
France and Italy aren’t the first European countries to try this scheme: in January 2024, news broke that the riverside village of Legrad in northern Croatia was attempting to sell a house for just 11p.
Legrad, the pint-sized town in question, has seen a gradual decline in inhabitants over the past 100 years.
The beauty spot in northern Croatia now has a population of just 2,000, so it’s launched various home-buying initiatives over the years to whip up interest in the area.
After the success of the first scheme in 2018, the government announced a new wave of houses that were put on the market for less than a packet of crisps.
Who is eligible to buy a €1 house in Italy or France?
With this particular French house, the property is only open to those who intend to make it their main (and only) residence.
So, if you already own a home in another country and want to make this your second, your application likely won’t be successful.
Rules can differ between towns, but as was seen with a previous scheme in Mussomeli in Sicily, Italy, buyers needed to:
- Demonstrate the ability to support expenses for the renovation of the property
- Prepare a project for the renovation within one year of purchase
- Start work within two months of the building permit being issued
- …and put down a deposit of £5,000 that they would lose if the work did not go ahead within the three-year time period.
As the scheme is intended to attract more permanent residents, the idea is that you’ll spend most of your time here integrating with the local community.
This ethos is largely also the case in other areas, as seen in northern Croatia in 2024, with the schemes also hoping to boost tourism in the area as a new generation of homeowners stimulates the local economy, buying from local shops and investing money in local venues.
How Brexit affects your purchase
Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, UK citizens are no longer permitted unlimited access to live and work in the EU. Beforehand, Brits could work and travel abroad with largely the same rights as in the UK, but now, there are tougher restrictions.
The 90-day rule means that, if you have a British passport but no visa, you can only spend 90 days out of a 180-day period in the EU. That applies to both work and leisure, so you won’t be exempt because you spent 89 days at work and want a few extra days for the beach.
This rule doesn’t reset if you return to the UK with the intention of flying straight back to the EU, either.
So, if you wanted to make your new €1 property your primary residence (as the rules in Saint-Amand-Montrond stated last year), you’d need to apply for French residency.
This piece was originally published on April 18, 2024.
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