In this European country, it is possible to buy a house for just a few cents.
Communication operations aimed at selling off houses to attract buyers are not new. Recently, it was Italy that offered goods for as little as one euro, creating an international media buzz and in the process encouraging hundreds of people to move to hilltop villages and Italian seaside towns. In this vein, today another European country is taking the initiative and going even further, offering an incredible opportunity to take the plunge and settle abroad.
The very serious American media Forbes tells of the improbable initiative put in place by this small town in Croatia to attract buyers from all over the world: it offers houses at a symbolic – but precise – price of 13 cents of dollars (a little less of 12 euro cents). Like the cheap real estate program in Italy, the community launched this project to compensate for its demographic deficit.
Legrad is a small rural town located in northeastern Croatia, along the winding Drava River, which serves as the border with Hungary. The city offers plenty of green space, access to nature, and river beaches to lounge in the summer. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a century ago and the redefinition of borders relegated the once-prosperous city to a peripheral status. The small community currently has only 2,000 residents and wants to increase that number. So to make this dream come true, the city’s municipal council launched an incredible project aimed at attracting families to Legrad.
Thus, the authorities announced the distribution, almost free, of the city’s houses, or rather to sell them for the symbolic price of 13 cents. A price which was not set at random since it corresponds to a kuna, the old currency of Croatia before their transition to the euro on January 1, 2023. Legrad had already tried this tactic to attract the attention of the media and thus attracting young buyers: in 2021, the city had already started selling houses for one kuna.
“We have become a border town with few transport links to other places. Since then, the population has gradually declined,” lamented at the time the town’s mayor, Ivan Sabolic, interviewed by Reuters. Five houses had then been sold and three families had moved into the town. There are of course a few requirements to meet to apply for the offer and hope to become new residents of Legrad. Applicants must be under 45 years of age, in a marital or extra-marital partnership, have no criminal record and own no other property.