This Italian village went viral with houses for 1 euro and now has cheap houses for sale again, but the price has risen

Sambuca di Sicilia, a village in Sicily, hopes to continue the success of recent years with a new scheme to sell abandoned houses at very low costs. The Italian village first went viral in 2019 when it auctioned off old houses with bids starting from 1 euro. In 2021 they did this again with bids from 2 euros, and now the city wants to repeat this for the third time with bids from 3 euros.

This time Sambuca di Sicilia has about a dozen houses ready for the fun auction. The village's mayor, Giuseppe Cacioppo, told CNN that the first sale revived the local economy by around 20 million euros. Since Sambuca di Sicilia started this viral campaign, 250 houses have been sold outside the original Euro auctions.

"Our village is now definitely on the map," Mayor Cacioppo said. 'This campaign will probably result in more sales in the coming years. Foreigners are flocking to buy our houses, it is a great success.'

The municipality of Sambuca di Sicilia announced that it has several houses for sale from 3 euros. For this year's auction, the village is selling houses with 2 to 3 bedrooms, from 1 to 3 floors and ranging from approximately 50 to 80 square meters. Some buildings have courtyards and wrought iron balconies, but all are in need of major renovation. Cacioppo said the current homes for sale are "structurally stable."

It is not certain that you can actually get the houses for 3 euros. The houses will be auctioned and sold to the highest bidder, and the winning bid will be opened in the presence of a judge. To participate in the auction, bidders must pay a deposit of 5.000 euros. If you lose the bid, you get the money back, but if you win, the money becomes the first deposit.

CNN reports that part of the agreement to purchase the property means that the new owners must complete the renovation work within 3 years or risk losing their deposit. However, the municipality has previously been flexible with renovation deadlines due to the pandemic.

Sambuca di Sicilia has not yet announced a start date for the auction. Interested parties can register free register .

Source: CNN/CNBC