A Chinese man won a two-bedroom Heilongjiang flat for 11 yuan through an Alibaba auction. The subsidised Double 11 deal sparked excitement alongside concerns about taxes and maintenance costs.Chinese man buys flat for Rs 154 during shopping festival A Chinese man got an extraordinary bargain during the country’s Double 11 shopping season, winning a two-bedroom flat in northeastern China for just 11 yuan (around Rs 154).According to a report by the South China Morning Post, the apartment was auctioned through Alibaba Auction as part of a Double 11 promotional campaign.
The two-bedroom, 68-square-metre property was located on the seventh floor of a residential building in Heilongjiang province.The auction began at just 1 yuan, with bids increasing by 0.01 yuan. However, the final price was capped at 11 yuan, meaning the first bidder to reach that amount would win the property.The unusual auction attracted 1,677 participants, who collectively placed 1,001 bids before the sale closed on November 5.
The winning bidder, an anonymous buyer from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, secured the apartment by being the first person to submit the maximum 11-yuan bid. The buyer had already paid the purchase price and the transaction fees.
However, the bargain did not mean the apartment would cost only 11 yuan in total.The buyer still needed to pay around 2,000 yuan (about Rs 28,000) in deed taxes to complete the transfer of ownership. The shopper also revealed during an auction livestream that he had no plans to move to Heilongjiang.
Instead, he intended to use the flat as an occasional holiday home during winter trips.The property’s apparent value made the winning bid even more striking. Local property apps estimated the flat's market value at around 40,000 yuan, while resale properties in the same complex averaged roughly 2,700 yuan per square metre.The auction agency reportedly explained that the deal was part of Alibaba Auction’s Double 11 promotion, with the platform subsidising the difference between the promotional price and the property's value.The sale quickly became a talking point online, with some users expressing envy over the bargain while others pointed out the potential costs of owning a property that would rarely be occupied.One person wondered why they had only discovered the deal after the auction had ended, while another warned that management fees could become a burden if the buyer hardly stayed there.Another user compared the purchase to getting a castle for almost nothing, but pointed out that maintaining it could be a very different story.The South China Morning Post also reported that legal experts had warned buyers against being tempted by extremely cheap property auctions.
Beijing Jinsu Law Firm lawyer Wang Yuchen said such properties could come with complications including unclear ownership, unpaid taxes, outstanding fees and expensive legal disputes.The 11-yuan flat was not the first ultra-cheap property to attract attention in China.In November 2024, a woman bought a 40-square-metre seaside apartment in Weihai, Shandong province, for 11 yuan at auction. The property was valued at less than 50,000 yuan at the time.Industry insiders said such cut-price auctions could also serve as promotional exercises, helping generate attention around property sales.For the latest buyer, however, the 11-yuan purchase appeared to have been more than just a shopping-season gimmick.
He planned to keep the flat as a winter getaway, turning an extraordinary Double 11 bargain into a holiday property thousands of kilometres from home.- Ends