Viral ploy to sell land for pennies puts Swedish town in ‘crisis mode’ as interested buyers flood phones

An aerial view of the town of Götene in the Västergötland region of Sweden. Getty Images

A quaint Swedish village is worth more than it realized.

Some 200 miles southwest of Stockholm, in the bucolic municipality of Götene, an initiative intended to bolster the local population by selling land for less than a dollar has proved too popular for its own good.

”It went viral and we’ve had thousands and thousands of requests to our telephone exchange,” Götene’s Mayor, Johan Månsson, told CNN of the program, in which 29 plots in the 5,000-resident main town were made available for one krona, or 9 US cents per 11 square feet. ”We have two people in our phone exchange in city hall and they have been very sweaty over the past few days. We’re basically in crisis mode.”

Flowering meadow in the Kinnekulle area, Sweden. Kinnekulle is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Vänern. Götene is also located on the lake’s shores. Alamy Stock Photo

While Italy and other southern European nations have seen mixed results with similar efforts, in which abandoned or decayed properties in underpopulated, rural areas are put up for sale at extremely low prices, it would seem that such enormous discounts aren’t necessary in Sweden.

The Götene region is currently experiencing low birth rates and an aging population as well as a housing market that “is currently very slow” and negatively impacted by a high interest rates and “a bit of a recession,” so Månsson believed putting the plots — all of which had been ”on the market for many many years” — would bring a much-needed “injection” into the local economy.

Götene is located on the shore of Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. Getty Images/iStockphoto

Götene, marked on a map. Alamy Stock Photo

”We thought why not, it’s an extraordinary situation that requires extraordinary measures. So we did it, and now it’s become a sensation, I don’t know what to say,” he explained to CNN.

Since it launched last month, four plots were quickly sold, but the town has since been forced to put the program on pause as a result of the deluge of interest.

The new plan now is to restart it in early August with a bidding process substituted for the flat rate.

“This was basically a bit of a stunt – we thought we’d be lucky to sell one or two,” he said. “With the interest we’re seeing now, it’d be fantastic if we sold all 30.”