Foreign Buyers Finding Bargains in Sicily

---

Foreign home buyers are snatching up property in Sicily at bargain prices, as Italy suffers from through its longest-ever recession.  

"When you go to the pizzeria now, you often meet more foreigners than Sicilians," Salvatore Sansemi, mayor of Cianciana, near the southern city of Agrigento, told AFP. In the last couple of years, about half of the village's population has emigrated to Canada, France or Germany, he said.

Homes needing repairs are selling for as little as €10,000 to €30,000 and renovated apartments from €60,000 to €80,000, Mr. Sansemi said.

Ray Winstone, a British actor and producer, bought an old farmhouse for €50,000 and is spending €1.3 million.

"Prices are very low," he told the AFP reporter.

Recent data from research institute Scenari Immobiliari showed Germans made up 60 percent of foreign second home buyers in Italy, followed by the British and Russians.    
 
Overall the Italian property market is still in the recession doldrums. The number of property sales in 2012 dropped 27.5 percent from the prior year to 448,364, the lowest level since 1985, according to a report from the Italian Banking Association and the national tax agency earlier this week. Sicily reported a similar drop of 27.4 percent, AFP reported.