Dubai: As property prices slump, a Dubai-based couple has embarked on a novel route to sell their four-bedroom apartment.
Steve Halligan, a British HR consultant, told XPRESS that he and his Indian wife have decided to sell their apartment in Green Community in a reverse auction on a UK-based website (www.humraz.com) as they were not getting the right price in the conventional market.
Reverse auction works by inviting interested buyers to block seats against a nominal monetary commitment. While the number of seats is arrived at in keeping with the expected price of the property, each buyer is entitled to block just one seat, for say £75 (Dh423). When all the seats are blocked, the amount is deducted from the buyer's credit card.
And the stage is set for bidding.
The aim of a potential buyer in a reverse auction is to bid the lowest amount. But if more than one person bids the same amount, the bid becomes invalid. While a potential buyer is allowed to make 100 bids, the bid value is not paid, since bidding is only a process to decide the winner. That is, the buyer ends up paying only £75.
Different from lottery
"It's not like a lottery. It's about skill and how wisely you use your bids," said Halligan. In his case, a total of 10,000 seats at £75 each has been earmarked in keeping with the value of the apartment, he said adding that 25-30 per cent of the seats have been blocked so far.
Asked if such sales were permitted by the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), he said, "It has nothing to do with Rera as the apartment will be bought in the normal process through a legal transfer."
