Four young Aussie mates sick of sky-high house prices have ditched Australia and snapped up a home in Italy for just $1.63.

Best mates Miles, Ricky, Jack and Riley have walked away from the grim reality of trying to buy in Australia, instead taking a chance on a crumbling €1 property in Sicily.

Their bold move has already struck a nerve online, with the group’s renovation journey pulling more than 11 million views across 16 Instagram videos and helping them build a following of nearly 300,000 since launching the account late last month.

“We are four best mates from Australia who got fed up with house prices. We thought there must be a better way,” they said in one viral post.

“We jumped on a plane to Italy to find out if you could really get a house for €1.”

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Four Aussie mates quit Australia for a regional town in Italy. Photo: Instagram/theoneeurodream

Turns out they could – but what they found was a long way from a dream home.

After hiring a car and inspecting properties across Sicily and the mainland, the four friends came face-to-face with a string of rundown houses in shocking condition.

Some had giant holes in the floors, serious structural damage and no electricity or water connection.

“The roof is completely collapsed in. There are dead pigeons and a lot of shit,” Ricky said while inspecting one property.

“The oven looks pretty good though … This is bad.”

Best mates Miles, Ricky, Jack and Riley are renovating a home in Sicily, which they purchased for just $1.63. Photo: Instagram/theoneeurodream

The homes are part of Italy’s well-known €1 house scheme, which has been rolled out in a number of regional towns trying to reverse population decline and bring abandoned buildings back into use.

Many of the properties are unwanted inheritances, with families choosing to offload them rather than continue paying taxes and upkeep on homes they no longer want.

It was in Salemi, a town in Sicily, where the group finally found the house they decided to buy.

“Some of us are tradies, some are not … We might be crazy. But we are going to have some fun,” they said.

They certainly have their work cut out for them. Photo: Instagram/theoneeurodream

But while the €1 price tag makes headlines, the real challenge starts after the sale.

The friends have already hit a series of setbacks during the early stages of the renovation, including a delivery truck that couldn’t fit through the town’s narrow streets and a mistaken order for a tonne of the wrong sand.

That has left them doing much of the heavy lifting themselves as they race to finish the job.

They’ve set themselves a three-month deadline to renovate the property while documenting every win and disaster along the way for their growing audience.

But how good is the view? Photo: Instagram/theoneeurodream

They’re not the first Australians to be lured by the promise of cheap homes in Italy.

Earlier this year, Brisbane couple Sophie Bouali and her husband Adam made headlines after buying an Italian home for less than the cost of a ute.

The pair bought a three-level property near Tuscany for €55,000, about $90,000, in late 2023 and now plan to sell their Queensland home.

Many of the abandoned houses are unwanted inheritances. Photo: Instagram/theoneeurodream

Unlike many low-cost overseas listings, their place was move-in ready and featured terrazzo floors and exposed timber beams, avoiding the need for major structural repairs.

The couple also found that living costs in regional Italian towns can be about 30 per cent lower than in Australia, making a mortgage-free lifestyle far more achievable.

The four Aussie mates haven’t yet revealed the full cost of their Sicilian renovation beyond the initial €1 purchase.

But their story is already tapping into a growing frustration among Australians who feel home ownership at home is slipping further out of reach.