Online auction of unfinished affordable housing project aborted after zero bids

An uncompleted affordable housing project in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

The online auction of an uncompleted affordable housing project in Qingdao, Shandong province, the first of its kind in China, was aborted on Tuesday after no one bid for the property, Beijing Youth Daily reports.

The project, Guolong Xingfu Cheng, was located in Sifang District of Qingdao. The auction was held at 10 am on Sept 25 through 10 am on Sept 26 via an online judicial auction platform, with a starting bid set at over 717.45 million yuan ($107.92 million). It attracted 15,000 visitors but no bidders.

According to the court's announcement, the auction was held on a deposit worth 143 million yuan, with the bid increment set at 3.58 million yuan. It required at least one bidder to sign up and offer a price no less than the starting figure in order to be successful.

The judge overseeing the auction, surnamed Liang, from the local court in Shibei District of Qingdao, said the applicant sought to repay debt with property after the auction failed, so a second had not been discussed.

Responding to a housing buyer question regarding when a second auction would be held, Liang said if the applicant's new attempt was successful, no auction was needed again, but if it failed, preparations for a second attempt could immediately kick off.

A key affordable housing project led by the Qingdao municipal government, Guolong Xingfu Cheng had been designed to have a total 1,053 apartments, with 510 commercial apartments and 543 price-capped ones. Despite delivery originally scheduled for March 2015, the project has seen construction commence and halt several times since 2014, and remains unfinished.

A female buyer of an apartment at Guolong Xingfu Cheng told the paper she had hoped to find a solution after three years of waiting. With the auction aborted, she was unsure when she could move into her own apartment.