The story of “Evacuated Spain” is told with the help of demographic statistics and personal testimonies, as well as real estate portals such as Idealista. There, an entire small town in the Esteribar valley in Navarra has been advertised for some time and is offered for sale for 1.6 million euros. At the time, it was a small settlement with a church, sheepfolds, warehouses and houses, less than half an hour from Pamplona, ​​and according to some sources, it was still inhabited in the 70s. That was almost half a century ago. , Certainly. There is another advert on Idealista today for a “rural property” for sale.

And this isn’t the first of its kind.

abandoned town for sale. The ad appears both on the Idealista website and on the website of a Navarra-based agency and the Navarra Real Estate Association (AINA): In the Esteribar valley, about 25 minutes from Pamplona, ​​there is a small town for sale for $1.6 million. Euro.

More specifically, the former unpopulated center is known as Zai and is located next to the town of Larrasoaña, not far from N-135 and between the urban centers of neighbors Setoain and Errea. His review can be found on the Idealista website, which has already reported that the “abandoned town” is available in February 2022.

including church. While the old town isn’t very large, it can boast a few “extras” like its own church affiliated with the Roncesvalles Collegiate Church, a handful of older buildings, and smaller structures that once served as sheepfolds or warehouses.

The ad also mentions a circular protected area of ​​around 300 hectares of mountains, forests and meadows, perhaps underlining an idea considering its possible use for rural tourism or accommodation: it lies “very close” to the route. Camino de Santiago.

“Ruined and desolate”. The announcement is not new. Idealista was already talking about the town looking for a buyer in 2022. And just like then, the prospect of taking over an old, abandoned town attracted media attention. Among them are News from NavarreThis makes it clear that the last six residents of the town left half a century ago, in the 1960s. Between the beginning of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, about thirty people came to settle in their home.

What both Idealista and the real estate agency who advertised it make clear are some technical details of the offer: it is a rural property for sale, unheated, with a built-up area of ​​2,600 square meters on a 300-hectare plot of land. renovated. “This is a town in ruins, completely deserted, with its church and some buildings in ruins,” they detail.

The announcement, made in 2022, went further and highlighted many of the town’s characteristics, both at a heritage level and in terms of the uses that could be given to it. “In rural architecture there are very few buildings still standing in Navarra that have the quality exhibited by one of these buildings,” the proposal said. “Today, Zai is a farm solely for agriculture and animal husbandry. It is also a small game reserve. It has a well and a spring.”

Ghost towns. Zai’s case is interesting for several reasons. First and obvious, because the sale of a town always attracts attention, even if it is a small town with few buildings. Second, the announcement leaves numerous examples of a much larger trend coming from afar, beyond the Esteribar valley: towns in evacuated Spain deprived of neighboring use. And this phenomenon goes beyond Navarra.

Last year the RTPA revealed that 800 towns in Asturias alone were left without neighbours; this figure was 60% higher than twenty years ago. This increase coincided with a marked decline in rural parishes’ enrollment.

In a 2020 report on the subject, the Ministry of Demographic Issues warned that there were 3,900 municipalities in Spain with a density of less than 12.5 per km2; The government recalls that below this threshold is the threshold accepted by the EU. a “demographic risk.” It is estimated that thousands of villas are currently completely abandoned.

One problem… and one job? Navarra is not the first town to be put up for sale either. At Xataka, we have previously told you about other cases, such as a remote town in Segovia that went on sale for 180,000 euros, and even towns abroad that faced a similar situation.

Websites specializing in such operations have even emerged, focusing on small towns that have been abandoned for decades. At the beginning of this year he Navarra Diary There were approximately seven such offers spread across different regions of Spain, and they ranged widely in price from 39,000 to 100,000 euros.

The real question is: Are they a business? in 2022 Hidden He spoke to the agency Aldeas Abandonadas, which reported that the proposals had generated particular interest beyond Spain’s borders. “We work with almost 75% of foreign customers. Foreigners are no longer just looking for beach tourism, they are also looking for shelter in their economies by investing in towns and farms. They want to diversify.” The question remains whether this attention will be extended to Zai (and whether he will be given a second chance).

Pictures | Idealista and Google Maps

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