The apartment is completely uninhabitable at present. (photo by Australian News Network)
An invincible penthouse in Sydney`s CBD, a year after the disappearance of its Chinese owner abroad, was auctioned by goverment this weekend to recover its $ two hundred thousand in arrears in municipal fees and interest.
According to the Australian News website, the apartment at (Darley Street) 72 / 3 / 5 in (Darlinghurst) Daley Street in Darling Hearst was priced at three hundred and seventy five thousand yuan, and more than 25 letters of intent had been received before the auction began on Saturday.
Liu Xianghong, the owner of the apartment, was reportedly renovating the 32-square-meter apartment, but suddenly there was no news, and authorities speculated that he might have gone to Malaysia.
Property records show that when Liu Xianghong year bought the apartment in November 1989, he spent only A $75,000.
The authorities have been trying for years to contact Liu Xianghong, but all have failed.
Natalie (James Natoli) of Ray White Surry Hills, a real estate agency, said: "he`s gone. He`s got no idea." I guess since he has Malaysian background, it may be going back. I talked to one of the people in the building who had lived here since they moved in ten years ago, but they didn`t know his personal life. He is a mysterious man. "
Median house prices in July were A $ nine hundred and seventeen thousand five hundred, or about 10 percent a year, according to CoreLogic.
The guiding price for the penthouse was so low because it was "completely uninhabitable," Mr. Natoli said. "it looks like he started decorating a decade ago and then left. The laundry on the top directly leaks down, the ceiling has a lot of water stains, the bedroom wall is also dilapidated, and after all only 32 square meters. "
