‘Americans kickstarted the resurrection’: Now Italians are snapping up $1 homes for themselves
Sambuca’s home sell-offs have seen huge demand, with American buyers rushing to snap up discounted houses in the hillside town for a symbolic €1 in 2019 and €2 in 2021.
Previously largely unknown, even to some Italians, Sambuca has since welcomed so many Americans that it’s been nicknamed “Italy’s Little America.”
But according to the town’s mayor Giuseppe Cacioppo, this US buyer trend has changed or, at the very least, slowed down. Now it’s Italians who are snapping up the town’s abandoned homes.
‘Italy’s Little America’
“Something weird happened with this third batch of auctioned homes; we thought more Americans would apply, so we were amazed that for the first time ever it was mainly Italians from all over Italy,” Cacioppo tells CNN.
Sambuca has placed dozens of dwellings on the market over the years in a bid to revive the community, which has suffered from depopulation as residents move to bigger cities.
In both past editions, the number of requests, mostly from the US, to purchase neglected homes was so high that local authorities had to place the old abandoned properties at auction.
While some bidders opted to snap up abandoned ruins, over a hundred Americans purchased ready-to-occupy homes from locals, revitalizing the area’s dwindling real estate market.
“Americans kickstarted the resurrection of Sambuca,” he says. “They bought 18 crumbly homes at auction in the first two rounds, and over 100 turn-key properties privately.
“Now they’re upping the game, seeking homes that may cost more but don’t need a restyle, and are often also furbished.”
Sambuca made global headlines back in 2019, when CNN broke the news of the first round of one-euro homes up for sale, triggering a property stampede made up of mainly American buyers.
Mayor Cacioppo believes that it’s thanks to the interest from US buyers that Italians have finally realized what a good deal the bargain homes can be, and are starting to participate too.
“The Italian buyers are all young and this too is a major surprise. They’re not pensioners but people who can also work remotely,” says the mayor.