Should You Be Buying 1 Euro Homes In Italy?

Nothing makes you appreciate Singapore like an ACL injury.

This week, I am hobbling around Italy with a busted knee after a fall. And don’t get me wrong, this place is great. There’s no greater sense of awe in realising the cobbled roads I’m walking on were the same ones under the sandalled feet of Roman legionnaires, or the artists of the Renaissance. 

It did remind me, however, of how important it is to do your research by physically visiting a place before deciding to purchase any investment property. 

I talked about “cheap” Japanese Akiya homes previously, but there is also a version of this in Italy – the 1 euro homes. 

No doubt, some Singaporeans would have seriously considered it, given how rock bottom the entry prices seems to be. 

But here’s what I’ve learned from a few days in the Italian countryside. 

For one, those ancient roads are really uneven, and send stabbing pains up my knee that the smooth, grey ribbons of Singapore sidewalks would never do (and yes, I’m accident-prone enough to have walked in both these places with a busted knee). 

Along with a knee injury comes an awareness of stairs, which are pretty much prevalent in many areas. Most old apartments on higher floors will require you to walk stairs too, and this is often a very narrow and steep climb. Now consider that in Singapore, chances are you can get to wherever you want – be it a mall in Bugis or a whole other country via Changi Airport – without climbing a single staircase*. 

There are some advantages to being a compact young country, even if we don’t have millennia of history behind our streets.

*Unless of course, you live in a multi-storey home with stairs, duh. 

Also speaking of which, Singapore’s property developers may not have it as rough as they think 

Five years may be a tight time limit and all; but I’m told that in places like Rome, every project is accompanied by an archaeologist. If something ancient gets uncovered during the digging, the whole project grinds to a halt. 

And if you’ve seen a place like Rome, you’ll realise you can dig practically anywhere in its vicinity and find pottery shards, remnants of old statues, etc. The whole area is practically an Indiana Jones set. 

Consider the chaos if we had this back home: entire en-bloc schemes getting canned because someone found old pottery shards, or even train stations being in impractical places to preserve sites. You just know someone is going to kick dirt over the ancient relics and yell “Nothing, nothing, carry on!”

Finally, remember that some of these places are hard to get to, in some cases racking up taxi fares of 30 to 40 euros just to get there from the closest town. And if you drive, don’t think it’s easy either – the roads are narrow, seldom smooth, and are an absolute terror at night (there are no street lights, so you could be one wrong turn from plummeting off a hillside). 

So while you can indeed buy a home for a single euro in some parts of Italy, the catch is that the single euro is nothing more than the house itself, which is probably in serious need of restoration (an obligation you take up when you buy it). 

But are they worth it? 

If you can afford the restoration and the cost of constant trips, I’d say it’s worthy of serious consideration. Nowhere in Singapore will you find so much peace and quiet, and so much greenery, for so low a cost. And given the low prices of fresh local produce, you can live like a monarch if you can cook. 

Just don’t expect a financial return. 

Meanwhile in other serious property news:

• Sometimes buyers make the wrong decisions about new launches. Here are some condos with terrible initial sales, but have since proven to be profitable.
• Next, find out what it’s like to live in a landed home, right in the heart of Orchard. A dream for many, but it has its own drawbacks.
• Is ABSD getting you down? Consider a dual-key unit, which counts as a single home but is subdivided into two. Here’s a list of potential options.
• Finally, the obligatory concerned look at the recent cooling measures. Have our taxes driven away the last foreign property investors?

Weekly Sales Roundup (24-30 Apr)

Top 5 Most Expensive New Sales (By Project)

Top 5 Cheapest New Sales (By Project)

Top 5 Most Expensive Resale

Top 5 Cheapest Resale

Top 5 Biggest Winners

Top 5 Biggest Losers

Transaction Breakdown

My interesting links of the week:

• ChatGPT trick

I came across this great ChatGPT trick on LinkedIn:

I can’t vouch for how real this is, but it is a reminder of how early we are still in the AI game – that you can manipulate the question to find out information that you want to know. 

That said, I still believe it’s a matter of time before AI will naturally disrupt many agencies. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s what the “Godfather of AI” has to say.  

• Small penises and fast cars

This is a really fascinating study on the evidence of a psychological link between small penises and fast cars. In short, they made male participants believe they had a small or large penis by giving them false information about the average penis size. They were then made to rate how much they would like to own a sports car (this was buried among other questions to avoid revealing the true nature of the questionnaire). 

The final result? Males and males over 30 in particular, rated sports cars as more desirable when they were made to feel that they had a small penis.

I wonder what that same study would conclude if they replaced sports cars with luxury penthouses.  

Stay with us over the coming month, as we observe the impact of the recent cooling measures. Also, we’ll keep you updated with prices and condo reviews, so you can pick out opportunities amidst the recent changes. 

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