Spain’s oldest village offers cut-price plot sale

Bienvenido: Residents of Olmeda de la Cuesta (average age 75) are keen on attracting young blood to the village

In a village with just 35 residents and an average of a sprightly 75, Olmeda de la Cuesta could be forgiven for counting its blessings, turning inwards and enjoying the peace and quiet that the hills 160 kilometres east of Madrid provide.

But that is not Olmeda’s style. Instead of shuffling quietly into anonymity, the village has launched an audacious plan to attract fresh young blood by offering up for sale eight bargain plots of land…

Now as we all know, land and property prices in Spain have tumbled dramatically since their peak of seven years ago, but Olmeda is offering up something never seen before – 60 square metres of land for just €200 euros. That’s right – the floor space of an average UK flat for less than the price of a couple of tickets to see Manchester United play football. For €300 you can snap up 87 square metres, while €1,300 will get you 205 square metres.

There is one slight caveat to this too-good-to-be-true deal: landowners must build a house or business on their plot within 36 months or have their land confiscated.

“Buyers can build a house of up to three floors, they can put in a garden; some plots have caves that can be used as wine cellars,” said Olmeda’s mayor, José Luis Regacho. “We want to attract people so that the village doesn’t disappear.”

Olmeda’s location in the nether-regions between Spain’s capital, the coast and Barcelona has been its undoing over the past few decades. With fewer than 15 permanent residents and 20 who own holiday homes there, the village’s identity has waned in recent years. Yet those very same reasons behind former residents’ flight could well attract intrepid new investors.

Madrid is a couple of hours’ drive away, so is Barcelona. Beaches and mountains are within easy reach, and the climate is as good as any in Spain. “The village is practically empty,” added 47-year-old Regacho, a veritable whippersnapper of the village that rose to notoriety in 2010 when a Spanish TV channel ran an exposé on its ageing population – the oldest, in fact, in Spain.

According to Regacho, that documentary ‘killed’ the village, along with the fact that its only school closed more than 40 years ago. Today, the village boasts a church, a bar (handy), and a medical centre (even more handy, given the demographics of the population). Regacho would like to see the school reopened. “The regional government requires a minimum of 11 students to reopen the school. It takes a lot to build a village. Destroying it is much easier.”

Having failed to raise suitable interest in land in Olmeda back in 2008 when plots were put up for sale for €600 – €3,000, this time the lower prices have already attracted attention from American, Mexican and Russian buyers.

Brits are conspicuous by their absence so far. While us Brits love a bargain, we also like the home comforts that a property on the Costa del Sol can offer.

So while we do not doubt that Olmeda’s peace, quiet and natural surroundings are fine attractions, give us the thrill of Puerto Banús, the history of Marbella, the beauty of Benahavís and the family-friendly services of Fuengirola any day of the week…