From sofas to suburbs: an entire street of houses in Spain is for sale on Wallapop

Property

A half-finished development in Bellús in Valencia is listed for €560,000, leaving the local council to find creative ways to fight depopulation as it can't afford the price tag

B. González

Valencia

If you scroll past the half-finished knitting projects and the slightly suspicious "vintage" exercise bikes on Wallapop today, you might stumble upon an entry ... that puts every other "project car" to shame: an entire street in Valencia.

Located in the quiet village of Bellús, a development of eleven terraced houses has been listed on the second-hand marketplace, inviting someone with a very large van and an even larger bank account to take the ultimate fixer-upper on board for a "bargain" €560,000.

The listing is a ghostly relic of the 2008 financial crisis, a moment in time when the original developer went bankrupt and essentially vanished into thin air. Today, the 1,964-square-metre site sits at 85 per cent completion, frozen in a state of perpetual "almost".

It is being sold as a secured debt acquisition, a polite way of saying the buyer will inherit a mountain of paperwork and a structure that has been battling the elements for nearly 20 years. Prospective owners won’t just need a hard hat; they’ll need the detective skills to find the original contracts and the patience to bring the buildings up to 2026 safety standards.

For Mayor Ana Huguet, seeing the heart of her village’s expansion plans sandwiched between listings for used sofas was a genuine shock. The local council has spent years playing a frustrating game of bureaucratic tag, chasing banks and insolvency administrators in a vain attempt to buy the site and turn it into social housing.

Unfortunately, the village’s entire annual budget is less than the asking price on the app, leaving the council to watch from the sidelines as their best hope for a housing boom sits behind a digital "Buy It Now" button.

Despite the surreal sight of a housing estate for sale on an app used for trading old video games, Bellús is far from a ghost town. While the "Wallapop Ward" sits silent, the council has been busy scavenging every other square inch of municipal property.

They have successfully renovated old teachers' residences and an abandoned nursing home, carefully hand-picking new residents who will actually stick around. Priority is given to families who will fill the desks of the local school, which currently serves 15 students, ensuring the village remains a living community rather than a collection of holiday rentals.

This scrappy, DIY approach to urban planning is actually working. In a world where inland villages are often written off, Bellús has managed to grow its population from 299 to 317 residents over the last five years.

The council has campaigned tirelessly, promoting the fresh air and the proximity to Xàtiva, and even offering up land to anyone willing to build a life there. The village is proving that while it might not be able to afford the half-finished estate currently trending on Wallapop, it has more than enough spirit to build a future out of whatever it can find.