FT: ‘Cheap houses are available in Romania’s idyllic Saxon villages if you don’t mind opaque practices and hidden costs’

In the past years Transylvania’s Saxon villages have attracted a growing interest from foreigners – UK’s Prince of Wales being the most prominent figure – who are lured by the region’s beauty and historical heritage. A recent article on FT reveals that while visiting Romania’s idyllic Saxon villages “feels like stepping into a tableau by Pieter Brueghel”, buying a property here is not something “for the faint-hearted”.

Real estate prices in Romania have surged in the past decades but country-side properties, but the price increases were considerable lower for country-side real estate. The lack of demand means that many properties in Romanian villages – including Saxon ones – are available at considerable lower prices than in urban areas.

For example in the town of Richis a house with around 10 rooms and some 2,000 sq m of land is priced at EUR 45,000. “In Viscri, due to its World Heritage status, a smaller house that sold for EUR 2,500 in 1996 would now fetch around EUR 60,000, unrestored. Should you wish to live in thriving Malancrav, where an unusually large 12 per cent of the 1,000-strong population is still Saxon, a large farmhouse is available for an optimistic EUR 80,000,” reads the FT article.

The problems buyers face start with finding a property in the first place. There is a lack of transparency as most owners sell their properties rather by word of mouth than real estate agents. Among many other legal aspects and the related bureaucracy that should be considered by potential buyers, there is also the problem of restoration costs.

“Buying property in the Saxon villages is not for the faint-hearted, and entails unspoken responsibilities. Persevere, however, and the reward is a slice of prelapsarian paradise,” concludes the article.