An idyllic Swedish town may have gotten more than it bargained for after thousands of interested would-be residents responded to authorities’ efforts to boost population numbers in the picturesque locale.
The town of Götene, located about 200 miles southwest of Stockholm, went viral last month after announcing it would sell plots of land at prices starting at less than 10 cents per square meter.
The promotion aims to lure new residents to the rural region amid a national housing crisis, mounting interest rates, and declining birth rates, Götene Mayor Johan Månsson told CNN.
Götene offers residents a quiet slice of rural Sweden, with about 5,000 full-time residents and 13,000 people living in the surrounding municipality. The lakeside locale sits beside the largest lake in the EU and is a stone’s throw away from a nearby mountain town, as well as home to two UNESCO-rated sites.
The local government in Götene is selling 30 plots of land that have been on the market for “many, many years,” Månsson told CNN.
The land comes as-is, and the only requirement as of last week was that the lucky buyers start building a home on the site within two years of purchase, according to the outlet. The current rules permit people to build a full-time residence or a dream vacation home on the land, though Månsson said that could change.
When the land first went on sale in May, Månsson told CNN that only about 30 interested buyers initially reached out. Within weeks, however, the program went viral, and “thousands and thousands” of prospective new buyers started ringing Götene city hall, the mayor said.
“We have two people in our phone exchange in city hall, and they have been very sweaty over the past few days,” Månsson told the outlet. “We’re basically in crisis mode.”
The land program has quickly become a sensation, with calls coming in from around the world, Månsson said.
Local authorities ultimately decided to pause the program until early August in order to develop a plan to handle the incoming requests, the outlet reported.
Four buyers managed to snatch up four of the ultracheap plots before chaos broke out, Månsson said.
According to CNN, the program will most likely transition to a bidding process for the remaining land when applications reopen next month.
More and more Americans are turning to Europe in hopes of finding affordable homes.
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