400 abandoned villages for sale in Spain

In the north of Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia, there are about 400 villages looking for a buyer, and some are offered for free, reports International Business Times, as relayed by the Patria news agency.

Picturesque settlements with mills, stables, granaries, wooden or stone houses are on offer. 

"This is as close to paradise as I can imagine," says Mark Adkinson, founder of a real estate company whose listings include abandoned villages. 

Rural depopulation and declining birth rates are a serious problem in northern Galicia, the Iberian Peninsula, and northern Portugal. Young people have left, while the elderly are reluctant to have children.

According to a report by the Christian Science Monitor, there are about 3,000 abandoned villages in Galicia, so local authorities are using promotional spots encouraging men and women to conceive. 

The mayor of Cortegada, Avelino Luis de Francisco Martinez, is even offering an entire village for free, on the condition that 12 abandoned houses are inhabited.

"They can do whatever they want with them, as long as they bring value back to the community," he says. 

According to the latest Eurostat data, the birth rate is declining in the EU, with an average fertility rate of 1.55 births per woman. The rate is lower in crisis-hit nations, standing at 1.27 in Spain, 1.3 in Greece, and 1.2 in Portugal, reports IBM.