Cheap lots in Götene an international sensation: what happened next

Last summer, Götene municipality announced that it was selling its orphan building lots for one Swedish krona per square meter. The sale went viral and the news attracted attention from all over the world. Johan Månsson, a member of the Götene municipal council, suddenly found himself answering questions from the international media, and applications flooded into the municipality from people wanting to buy a lot. So what happened next?

Hi, Johan! So how are things going one year on?

“It’s been a truly exciting, once-in-a-lifetime year for everyone involved. In fact, the media attention did not begin to calm down until now, one year later. I’ve had interviews booked all the time.” 

How many lots did you sell?

“We had thousands of inquiries and when everything was going flat out, we were sure all the lots would be sold overnight. But that’s not quite how things turned out. Buying a building lot involves certain obligations and we were careful to only list serious buyers. So far we’ve concluded six sales and have around 20 lots left. We’re very pleased about every individual sale, and as the lots have been available since the 70s and 80s, we can only be satisfied with the outcome. However, there’s still a chance for anyone interested in finding a lot!”

Were you prepared for the impact?

“Absolutely not! We could never have imagined it in our wildest dreams! And now that we’re some distance from it, it feels almost even more surreal. I find it hard to believe that any other municipality in Sweden has experienced anything like it. The impact was absolutely crazy and way more than we expected!”

Has the unexpected attention brought anything else besides lot speculators to Götene?

“The biggest thing for us was the media attention – we became visible in contexts where we never thought we would! Also, the reportage was almost exclusively positive. In international media, Götene municipality was portrayed as a forgotten pearl in northern Europe set in beautiful countryside which for some unfathomable reason needed to use this kind of gimmick to attract new residents.” 

“All of the attention also led to a sense of pride and community among our residents. For everyone here, the positive reports about Götene and Skaraborg have given our self-esteem a boost. It remains to be seen whether it will have an impact in the form of increased tourism as the summer is still ahead of us.”  

“Another satisfying outcome is the increase in spontaneous inquiries about working with us, and we’ve noted an uptick in applications for vacant positions in the municipality. It has simply given our employer brand a boost.”