After being faced with the potential of spending nearly $500,000 to “live in a box” in London due to rising housing costs, a couple left the big metropolis and purchased a huge farm in rural Italy.
Last year, Lucie Davidson and Jerry O’Shea purchased a 110-acre property in central Italy after failing to locate a one-bedroom apartment in Brixton, Bermondsey, or Camberwell that fit their £450,000 price range.
Instead, they fell in love with the property, which they claim occupies a “full valley,” and paid €160,000 (about £136,000) buy the old Pitino Agricolo estate in Italy’s Le Marche area.
Their ideal house, however, lacked adequate living space. The property’s 19th-century farmhouse suffered significant damage from an earthquake in 2016. The house lacked sufficient roads, running water, and electricity.
The couple made a purchase bid because they thought it was the “most gorgeous site we’ve ever been,” despite the evident major obstacles.
Their relocation occurs as Britons struggle with a rising cost-of-living issue that is driving up house prices. House hunters are spending nearly nine times their annual income to buy a property as average property prices are up 11.8% nationwide year over year.
According to research, house searchers spent over £678,000 on average to own in London over the past year. The average price of homes in the hip neighborhoods of Brixton, Bermondsey, and Camberwell last year was roughly £560,000, £727, and £530,000, respectively.
In 2020, houses in rural Italy were going for as little as €1 (85p), in an effort to entice more families to settle in small towns.
At the University of Cambridge, Davidson, 26, and O’Shea, 28, met while completing their PhDs in politics. After relocating to O’Shea’s family home in Otford, Kent during the epidemic, they started accumulating money for their own house.
The pair made the decision to purchase in Le Marche, Italy, which is outside of Tuscany, in May 2021 after realizing that the soaring London housing market would force them to “pay half a million pounds to live in a box.”
According to O’Shea, who said that many believed them to be ‘mad’ for uprooting their lives, “the young people all want to relocate to London and we want to do the reverse,”
For two reasons, they believe we are nuts. One is that we relocated to a small community and now have distant jobs. The elder generation also complains that farming is extremely challenging, particularly in our region’s hilly terrain.
They were able to purchase the farm outright using their savings and a loan from O’Shea’s parents after haggling to lower the price from the quoted €200,000 (about £170,000) to €40,000.
However, Italian law threatened to impose a tax bill of €17,000 (about £14,400) on the couple unless they agreed to purchase the farmland, which reduced their tax burden from 12 to 15% to 1%.
In January, the couple made a permanent transfer to Italy and started their farming business right away.
After learning how to take care of the 80 olive trees that already existed, they read scholarly articles, watched YouTube videos, and sought assistance from their neighbors to teach themselves how to create olive oil.
If you’re unsure what to do, you can always ask someone. Olives are not that difficult. Simply drill holes in the earth and liberally sprinkle items with water, according to Davidson.
By selling olive oil from their first harvest, Davidson and O’Shea have made a profit of €5,000 (about £4,200) thus far.
They expect to create a few thousand bottles of wine the following year.
They claim to be certain that Pitino Agricolo would be able to treble its profits by 2023.
This year, they added another 250 olive trees, along with 30 fruit trees and 50 hazelnut plants. The pair paid between €5 (£4.24) and €8 (£6.78) for each sapling.
A crowdsourcing account has been put up by the couple to seek funds to plant more trees. They exhort people who want to “sink some carbon” to support the planting of new trees. Donors will receive wine, olive oil, and other specialty farm-to-table goods in return.
Hopefully, one day, our annual income will exceed €100,000. We aim to serve as a model for a self-sufficient, organic farm that is also regenerative, said O’Shea.
The couple’s ultimate goal is to restore the run-down farmhouse and turn it into a luxurious farm stay that they can advertise on AirBnB.
The improvements, which were estimated to cost between €250,000 (about £212,00) and €300,000 (around £254,000), have been put on hold for the time being. The pair cited a shortage of finance and disruptions in the Italian builders’ supply chains.
We currently lack the funds to complete the house because our budget has already been significantly strained by the farming, according to Davidson.
They have made the decision to hold off till construction expenses are lower and they have more money saved. The pair is already paying €350 (£297) each month, plus utilities and other fees, to rent a three-bedroom apartment close to the farm.
While building their renovation budget, the couple will continue to run their farm and educate college students online, a lucrative side business they started during the COVID lockdowns.
The pair claims that despite its difficulties, life on a farm is the “greatest thing in the world.”
The best aspect of life, according to Davidson, is its pace and way of living. “I’m outside in the sun all the time.” I will never consider going back.
Every evening, you see deer, porcupines, or maybe even eagles, O’Shea said. In the valley below, the only sounds you hear in the spring are the sounds of wild animals. I can’t think of a better environment to work than this.
Additionally, their tale will be covered in a future episode of the Help! We acquired a community.
According to the most recent data from the Office for National Statistics, home searchers are spending over nine times their annual income to buy a property, which is why Davidson and O’Shea left the UK as the country struggles with the continuous cost of living problem.
In England, the average home sold for 8.7 times the average yearly disposable household income. The multiple was lower in Wales and Scotland, at six and 5.5, respectively.
According to data released in early August, UK home prices dropped for the first time in a year in July, down by 0.1% month-over-month, or £365 in cash terms.
According to Halifax, an average UK home now costs £293,221 across the country.
The market has had its first little but potentially major slowdown since June 2021. This comes after the average UK house price hit a record high of £293,586 in June.
In the country, the average price of a home has increased by about £30,000 since July 2021, or 11.8% annually.
However, experts claim that recent months have seen a “softening” of property market activity and that a “slowdown” in house prices, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, has been “anticipated for some time.”
In light of the “exceptionally high” property price-to-income ratios, they caution that rising borrowing costs, prompted by recent increases in interest rates, are now contributing to the stress on household budgets.
The Bank of England increased its base rate by 0.5 percentage points earlier this month, the largest hike in 27 years, in an effort to rein in spiraling inflation. Its base rate, which banks use to determine mortgage rates, has increased from 1.25 percent to 1.75 percent, which is a 13-year high.
The hike is the sixth in a row since December. And when millions more homeowners’ fixed-rate loans mature, it has prompted worries of a potential “mortgage time bomb” for them.
According to current market listings, Davidson and O’Shea might have found a one- or two-bedroom apartment in the neighborhoods where they wanted to live with their budget of £450,000.
For instance, a 470 square foot apartment in Brixton’s Chantrey Road is currently available for £450,000. The second-floor apartment features a huge double bedroom, one bathroom, and an open concept living, cooking, and eating area that measures 17 feet by 14 feet.
According to real estate company Foxtons, buyers spend £560,807 on average to purchase a home in the posh Brixton neighborhood. But if you’re lucky, that budget will only buy you a two- or three-bedroom apartment.
The couple could have purchased a 707 square foot apartment in Bermondsey for £450,000, but it would only have had one bedroom. In Bermondsey, homeowners spend an average of £726,615 per year on housing.
A flat with an open floor plan living area that includes space for dining and resting is depicted in a recent offering on St. James’s Road.
However, the en-suite in the bedroom serves as the only bathroom, which is not ideal when hosting guests.
The couple could have received a little more for their money in the neighborhood, but not by much, according to recent postings in Camberwell.
For £450,000, a 647 square foot apartment on Grove Lane with two bedrooms and one bathroom has been listed.
It contains a separate kitchen area and 4.1 m of reception space. A nursery or home office might be more appropriate in the second bedroom than the master bedroom, which appears to have a huge closet.
In Camberwell, the yearly average sales price was £530,164.
In response to the problem in the cost of living, rent prices in 40 towns and cities in the UK have increased to record highs. Rent in the capital may still be had for as little as £616 per month, so there are still some deals to be had.
However, London continues to have the most expensive neighborhoods in the UK, with the West End and Soho topping the list with an average monthly cost of up to £1,229.
Data from Spareroom indicates that rent costs have “skyrocketed” across the UK, with 50 towns and cities experiencing year-over-year growth from 2021 to 2022 and 40 setting new records.
According to the data, Abbey Wood in the city’s southeast has the lowest monthly room rent in London at £656.
In the east end’s Manor Park and East Ham, where rent is about £620 per month, you can also find deals.
After Soho, Westminster and Belgravia have the highest rent in London at £1,097 per month, followed by Earl’s Court at £1,060.
Outside of London, Darlington, Huddersfield, and Middlesbrough are the most affordable cities to live in, with average rents of £391, £394, and £396 respectively.
The cost of living problem is spreading throughout the UK as a result of high rent prices; while food and utility costs are going up, many employers are unwilling to increase employee salaries to offset these rising costs.
While this was happening, a number of abandoned homes in Italy sold for as little as 85p, making headlines about the country’s real estate market.
Ninety abandoned properties in Bisaccia, a region of Avellino, only two hours from Naples’s capital, were listed for just one euro apiece in 2020. Local government agencies were selling the outdated residences.
The new owners were required to make renovations to their property, but officials did not specify a deadline or a required minimum investment.
The latest earthquake to strike the tranquil village of Bisaccia was in 1980, and it is thought that this, along with other previous earthquakes, may have contributed to the population reduction in the small town.
In an effort to draw in new people, the 3,800-person town of Bivona in southern Sicily offered its run-down dwellings for sale for just one euro the year before, in 2019.