Housing auction disappointing

PHUKET: The Phuket office of the Government Housing Bank (GHB) sold just 12 of 75 repossessed properties at its most recent auction, a GHB official told the Gazette today. The auction, on July 27, at which bidding for most properties started at 80% of their estimated value, raised 12.4 million baht. The bank had expected to sell all 75 properties, which would have raked in a whopping 97.4 million baht. The take from the auction paled into insignificance when compared with the 239 million baht raised by the Phuket Legal Execution Department on June 29 and 30 at its auction of repossessed properties. The GHB auction, one of many auctions being held by the bank around the country on the same day, attracted about 50 people, of whom only 30 were bidding for properties. The unsold properties are still for sale. The GHB spokesman added that the bank had no details of when, or indeed if, it would hold another auction.