Once-vibrant villages across rural France are being left deserted by residents moving away to larger towns and cities seeking better job opportunities. Many are also moving to the outskirts of the settlements, where land is cheaper, leaving properties in village centres to fall into ruin.
But now one village is making an attractive offer to families looking to stay in the area – offering two three-storey houses for sale just €1 each, as well as a grant of almost €68,000 – around £59,000 – to refurbish them. The village of Ambert in the central Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is making the offer in an effort to revitilise the community.
According to Swiss newspaper Blick, Ambert has a population of around 6,500 people – but more and more have moved to the outskirts of the village, where building new homes is cheaper than renovating old properties.
Others have moved to Lyon, France’s third-largest city, more than 80 miles away, seeking better job opportunities. According to Blick, this has left 60 per cent of homes in the urban centre of the village empty – a trend repeated in rural communities across France.
Now, the village is offering the two neighbouring homes – numbers three and five on Rue Michel Rolle – for sale for just a single Euro. One Euro is currently valued at just 87p, meaning you could become a homeowner for less than £1.
A condition of sale is that they must be the buyer’s main residence.
Both homes require extensive renovation, with the roofs and windows, insulation, and electrics all needing work – and the town hall is offering a €67,813 grant towards this. This will only need to be repaid if the buyers leave within three years of purchase, in which case they will have to pay €95,206 – about £82,600 – out of their own pockets.
The village has reportedly said it is hoped this means the buyers will stay on in the homes, contributing to the revitilisation of the urban centre.
Other state aid packages may also be available on top of this, the municipality has said. According to Time Out, this is part of a five-year plan to reverse the Ambert’s population decrease, which has seen some success, with another class added the village’s school two years ago, and renovations being carried out to a former chamber of commerce and industry building.
Similar offers have been made previously in Italy, according to Blick. This, it has been reported, revitilised the city of Taranto, as well as a number of villages in Sicily.