A buyer attracted attention in China after acquiring a 68 square meter T2 apartment for a very low price, equivalent to 11 yuan (approximately 1.5 euros), during the country's main shopping festival.
The property is located on the seventh floor of a residential building in Heilongjiang province and was negotiated through the Alibaba Auction platform. The auction started with a minimum bid of one yuan, with bids increasing in increments of 0.01 yuan, and a maximum ceiling set at 11 yuan.
According to the South China Morning Post, on October 5th, a total of 1,677 participants were involved in the auction, submitting 1,001 bids before its conclusion. The winner, an anonymous buyer from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, located in eastern China, secured the apartment by being the first to offer the maximum allowed amount of 11 yuan.
During the live broadcast of the auction, the buyer expressed that he does not plan to reside in Heilongjiang, intending to use the apartment only as a second home for vacation purposes. Despite the symbolic cost of 1.5 yuan, the acquirer will have to pay about two thousand yuan (equivalent to 270 euros) in taxes to finalize the acquisition of the property.
Even with the additional cost, the deal was considered advantageous, as local real estate agents report that the average resale price in the same residential complex is around 2,700 yuan (366 euros) per square meter.
This shopping festival, known as 'Singles' Day' and the Chinese equivalent of Black Friday, was established in 2009 by the Chinese platform Taobao and runs for a month this year. A representative from the auction agency informed that this transaction was part of the Alibaba Auction's Double 11 promotional campaign, with the platform covering the price difference.
