Chengdu "haunted house" goes on auction for the third time, starting bid is less than 2,000 yuan/㎡. Nearly 50k people watch, who dares to take a chance?

Recently, a commercial residential unit listed on Alibaba Auction in Chengdu, Sichuan, has drawn widespread attention.

According to the platform information, the property is located at Qianju Chaoyang, No. 26 Shuangqing Road, Chenghua District, Chengdu, with a construction area of 89.7㎡ and a layout of two bedrooms, two living rooms, and one bathroom. It is scheduled to go on the block on April 14. Notably, the property’s starting bid is 166k yuan, which works out to about 1,851 yuan/㎡—clearly far from the current market price for properties in the same area.

Appearing on the auction platform three times—in reality, a “murder house”

As of the time of publication, the auctioned property has attracted 49k views and 39 people have registered. What has kept it in the spotlight is that the property is, in fact, a “murder house.”

The description of the asset states that “In May 2024, a couple of tenants died in a fatal violent incident due to a dispute.”

In addition, this property is not the first time it has appeared on the auction platform. According to Alibaba Asset Auction records, the property was listed for auction in November 2025 and January 2026, and in both cases, it was ultimately successfully sold.

In November 2025, the property had a starting bid of 266k yuan. The market price was 1.65 million yuan. At that time, 92 people registered to participate, and after 40 rounds of bidding, it was sold for 166k yuan.

What was unexpected is that only 2 months later, the property appeared on Alibaba Auction again. In this auction, the starting bid was still 266k yuan, but the number of registrants sharply dropped to just 24 people. The final transaction price was 966k yuan.

However, according to media reports, the owner who won the property in that auction was unable to successfully gather the funds due to personal reasons, so the deal could not be completed and the buyer ended up regretting the purchase; the buyer was also fined a 50k yuan deposit. As a result, the rescheduled auction could not lead to a successful transfer of ownership. This is also the main reason the property is being listed again this time.

In response, Caixin Finance specifically verified with the platform customer service. They said that the property is being listed again typically because the previous buyer has withdrawn from the purchase, and they also reminded that the property is a murder house and recommended considering comprehensively.

The community’s second-hand home listing average is 16,018 yuan/㎡ Total price for the same-size unit is 1.55 million

The community where the auctioned property is located is Qianju Chaoyang. According to the platform description, the community was built in 2008, with two phases. This unit is in Phase One. Within Phase One, there are two levels of underground parking, elevator apartments, and a slab-block structure. Only the building in which the auctioned unit is located—of total height 26 floors—is being auctioned; the other buildings are 18 floors, with 2 elevators and 4 units per floor. The property management company is Changda Property Management, and the property management fee is 1.58 yuan.

The information also mentions that the community has an on-site swimming pool, tennis court, and table tennis area, with pedestrian-vehicle separation. Next to it is the Shihe River, and within a 2-kilometer range there is Tazishan Park, and it is also relatively close to amenities such as the subway and Vientiane City.

Caixin Finance saw on the Beike second-hand housing platform that there are currently 73 second-hand homes in the community being listed. The average listing price is 16,018 yuan/㎡. In the past 90 days, 1 unit has been sold, and in the past 30 days, intermediaries have conducted 522 viewings.

Among the listed properties, Caixin Finance noticed that there is a second-hand apartment on a high floor that was listed 7 days ago, in the same building as the auctioned property, with the same construction area of 89.7㎡. Its total listing price is 1.55 million yuan, which works out to about 17,280 yuan/㎡.

Based on this comparison, in terms of price alone, the starting bid of the auctioned property does look enticing.

The starting price seems like a great value, but the “hidden costs” are not low

The property was first sold for 49k yuan. To many people, that already counts as a “great bargain,” but in fact, after one intermediary did the calculations, it was found that once platform service fees, taxes, and additional expenses such as clearing the site are added, the actual amount invested will exceed 1.3 million yuan.

According to the auction platform’s notes, the rental income and unpaid expenses such as water, electricity, gas, and property management fees related to the auctioned asset are collected and borne by the original landlord before the transfer of property rights is completed, and after the transfer of property rights is completed, they are collected and borne by the buyer.

Aside from the above, compared with ordinary second-hand homes, “murder houses” also face the risk of extremely poor liquidity. Moreover, many banks choose to refuse mortgages, which also means that buyers will most likely need to purchase with full payment.

At the same time, the intended use of buying a “murder house” has also become a topic of discussion. Many netizens said that in most cases, after a “murder house” is purchased, the landlord would renovate it again and use it to rent out—especially when tenants are not aware of the facts.

Regarding this, Gao Chengfei, Deputy Director of the Brand and IP Committee of the Influence Research Institute, said that under China’s current legal framework, when a landlord rents out a property while concealing that an abnormal death event (commonly known as a “murder house”) occurred there, it does not directly constitute a criminal offense, but it does cross the red line of civil law.

He said the key lies in the duty of information disclosure. According to Article 500 of the Civil Code, during the process of concluding a contract, the parties have a pre-contract duty to provide truthful information. Historical information about the property is an important fact that affects the tenant’s decision-making. Intentionally concealing it constitutes fraud. In judicial practice, courts in many places have supported tenants in claiming to rescind the lease contract, refund rent, and seek compensation for losses on that basis. For example, cases in Beijing, Shanghai, and other places have held that murder house information falls within the scope of the tenant’s right to know, and that concealment violates the principles of public order and good morals.