Whole island for sale for under $500k – but there’s a catch

You can buy an entire Mediterranean island for the same price as a studio apartment in Sydney. 

The islet of Santo do Mar off the coast of Galicia, Spain, is on the market for just €300,000 ($493,000). 

It’s a little piece of paradise just a stone’s throw from the mainland. At low tide, you can cross over without needing a boat thanks to a sandy spit that connects the island to the Pontevedra coast. 

The island is also known as the Isle of San Clemente, and is a small rocky outcrop just 3000 square metres in size. 

It might sound like a dream purchase, but there is a catch. 

The isle of Santo do Mar lies in a protected area, so all development on the island is banned – including building a house. 

Future buyers would only be allowed to visit the island for day trips or camp overnight. 

The isle of Santo do Mar is being sold by Manuel Piñero Campelo, who inherited the island. 

“It is covered with meadows and has a couple of good-sized pine trees,” Piñero Campelo explains in the listing. 

“There are the ruins of the hermitage of San Clemente, which was formerly the site of a busy pilgrimage.” 

According to local legend, the church was built in 1248 in gratitude to Saint Clement of Rome after the Christian King Ferdinand III recaptured Seville from Muslim leadership. 

During the Middle Ages, the church was so famous it was even the subject of a local Galician folk song. 

The current church structure is estimated to date back to the 18th century.

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