Once Britons went in search of dream villas on the Spanish Costas but now they are hunting for entire abandoned villages which are being sold for the same price.
Hamlets, whose inhabitants have all died out or moved away, have become the new must-have properties despite being in previously unfashionable areas.
A steady exodus from rural areas by younger people in search of jobs and better opportunities in cities in Spain or abroad, has left a vacuum in many countryside areas known as La España Vaciada – the emptied Spain.
At least 3,000 villages, which were once thriving communities, are now ghost towns, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute.
Mark Adkinson, 70, a British estate agent who runs Galician Country Homes with his wife in northwestern Spain, said Britons bought deserted villages in search of freedom.
“They want to live their own lives. They want to be self-sufficient. You can do that to some extent with your own house but more so with your own village,” he told. “Some want to do home schooling with their children and go back to nature.”
He added: “Some want to escape the heat on the Mediterranean coast. They thought they wanted year-round sun but now they realise that it is too hot and they are stuck indoors all day and can only come out at night to get drunk. At least here (in Galicia) it is cooler at night.”
Mr Adkinson, who has lived in Spain for 50 years, said he had sold at least five abandoned villages to British buyers.
Other abandoned villages sold to Brits were Xerdiz and O Penso, both in Galicia. O Penso, which was deserted for 10 years, was sold for €200,000 after attracting interest from China, Japan as well as Britain. Set in 100 acres (43.6m sq ft) of lush rural land, it contains four properties and two cattle barns.
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