Hanoi man mistakenly bids $170,000 per square meter in land auction

Nguyen Thanh Tung, 33, said he made a bid of VND4.28 billion (US$173,000) for the entire parcel in an auction where bidding was by the square meter.

Me Linh District authorities said Thursday they are in the process of refunding his VND600 million deposit for the auction on Dec. 30.

The district was auctioning 47 land lots. The price of one started at VND30 million per square meter.

Tung bid "42800," which to the organizers meant he was bidding VND4.28 billion for a square meter.

It was 143 times the reserve price and equivalent to the cost of a spacious three-bedroom apartment in downtown Hanoi.

Tung won the auction, it goes without saying, since no other bidder even came close. He only realized later that he had to pay VND436 billion for the land.

At the end of the auction he told the organizers he had put in the wrong figure because he had been stressed in what was his first ever auction.