NOW'S the time to get bidding: an entire village is up for sale on the internet auction site, Wallapop, with 40 houses, mains electricity and water in place, a palace, a casino, a hermitage chapel, a post office, an olive oil storage warehouse and a flour factory.
Colonia de Santa Eulalia – about halfway between the towns of Villena and Sax in the west of the province of Alicante – is completely uninhabited, making it a great investment if you have the cash.
And its palace is an official heritage site, meaning it would be eligible for European Union funding to restore it and open it to the public as a visitor site or, perhaps, depending upon listed building requirements, a restaurant or hotel.
The post office, part of Spain's national Correos network, is empty – as it has no customers – but could be started up again if the homes were let out or sold off.
A tied hamlet which, officially, belongs to Villena, Colonia de Santa Eulalia was described in 1887 as 'a first-class farming colony', owned by the Count of Alcudia who wanted to build a 'self-sufficient village' in line with the worldwide trend in the 19th century of western Europeans for creating and extending a 'socialist utopia', or one where inhabitants were self-governed.
At around this time, Colonia de Santa Eulalia reached its record population size – 200 residents – and had a spirits factory which kept the village in work.
The only drawback is that the sale price is not exactly within the average Wallapop-user's budget: €90 million.
This said, as an auction site, users can make bids starting as low as they wish – which will only be rejected if they are less than the reserve price – or make offers direct to the seller.
Still, it is unlikely the finally price will come down to a figure that most individuals can afford.
If Colonia de Santa Eulalia finds a buyer, it is likely to be a company seeking a long-term investment.
