--- description: Spanish real estate agencies are selling entire abandoned villages for cheap—and some mayors are giving them away for free title: Abandoned Spanish Villages Given Away for Free image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc01af832667e4122/698684b1d0b6f25e4530326b/126383139.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [real estate](/tag/real-estate/) ## real estate Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Broke Country Is Basically Giving Away Free Villages by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2014 2:53 PM CUT  Spain, Andalucia, Gaucin. One of the Pueblos Blancos white villages in the hills. Spain, Andalucia, Gaucin. One of the Pueblos Blancos white villages in the hills.Ian Aitken—Getty Images/AWL Images RM by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2014 2:53 PM CUT In the market for an ancient Spanish village? They come cheap these days. Thousands of abandoned villages across Spain are up for [sale](http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7UBPqVRTklEMN1X4KsL8e8K8Sjg?docId=10d36bad-4afc-4460-a868-481ec2206dfa "undefined") as jobs leave the countryside and rural life slowly fades in the country, reports Agence France-Presse, and there are so many of them, that some are literally being given away for free. Specialized real estate agencies help identify the around 2,900 empty villages and sell them to owners, many of them foreigners, who are surprisingly hard to come by. But some municipalities, desperate for caretakers of the ancient and abandoned properties, are giving away villages for free. A stand of three stone houses and a granary—a typical hamlet in northwest Spain—can fetch less than $100,000\. Some villages have requirements that purchasers must preserve them, many of which date back to the Middle Ages. \[[AFP](http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7UBPqVRTklEMN1X4KsL8e8K8Sjg?docId=10d36bad-4afc-4460-a868-481ec2206dfa "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/18239/this-broke-country-is-basically-giving-away-free-villages/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/18239/this-broke-country-is-basically-giving-away-free-villages/"},"headline":"This Broke Country Is Basically Giving Away Free Villages","datePublished":"2014-03-10T14:53:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:40:48.721Z","description":"Spanish real estate agencies are selling entire abandoned villages for cheap—and some mayors are giving them away for free","url":"https://time.com/18239/this-broke-country-is-basically-giving-away-free-villages/","keywords":["real estate","Spain"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc01af832667e4122/698684b1d0b6f25e4530326b/126383139.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc01af832667e4122/698684b1d0b6f25e4530326b/126383139.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"126383139","caption":"126383139","creditText":"Ian Aitken—Getty Images/AWL Images RM","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/real-estate/","name":"real estate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/18239/this-broke-country-is-basically-giving-away-free-villages/","name":"This Broke Country Is Basically Giving Away Free Villages"}}]}] ```