Owning a private island seems like a privilege reserved for billionaires. Yet, there is an island in Greece up for auction today at a surprisingly low price: less than the average cost of a house in the United States. But behind the dream offer lies a much more complex reality, made up of debts, environmental constraints and strong building restrictions.
The island is called Makri, it is uninhabited and is located in the Ionian Sea. In 2022 it was proposed on the luxury real estate market for around 8 million euros, presented as an ideal location for exclusive resorts, private villas and high-end tourism. Today, however, the starting price of the auction has collapsed to around 250 thousand euros.
A figure that is impressive, especially when compared with the average price of a house in the United States, equal to around 450 thousand euros.
Why is it so cheap?
The answer is simple: buying Makri also means inheriting a long series of legal, fiscal and environmental problems.
According to the Greek press, the island is burdened with debts and tax claims of over 20 million euros, including credits advanced by the Greek state. Furthermore, most of the real estate projects imagined in the past would not be feasible.
Makri, in fact, is one of the protected areas of the European Natura 2000 network and is classified as an area of high ecological interest. This means that any building intervention would require extremely complex authorizations, up to and including a possible presidential decree.
Not only that: the island would also have been classified as a protected forest area, a detail that further limits the possibility of building hotels, resorts or invasive tourist infrastructures.
A natural paradise still intact
And this is precisely the most interesting point of the story. Unlike many other Greek islands overwhelmed by overtourism, Makri has remained completely uncontaminated.
No luxury resorts, marinas or beach clubs: just rugged coasts, crystal clear sea and Mediterranean biodiversity. A natural heritage that today could transform into an emblematic case of environmental protection against real estate speculation.
In recent years the island had been promoted as a future destination for exclusive international tourism. Today, however, ecological constraints seem to have definitively slowed down every maxi-building project.
What could you really do on the island?
The possibilities of use would be very limited. According to local media reports, Makri could be mainly used for sustainable agricultural activities or projects with low environmental impact.
Anyone who bought it would also face enormous costs to install essential services such as electricity, drinking water and waste disposal systems.
In other words: more than a real estate investment, Makri today represents a symbol of the delicate balance between environmental protection and tourist exploitation.
And perhaps this is precisely the true value of the island: having remained, at least for now, a rare corner of the still wild Mediterranean.
