COVID-19 Halts Courts... 7 Out of 10 Auctions in March Postponed

Court Status by Date in March

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim On-yu] Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the bidding dates for 7 out of 10 court auctions scheduled last month were changed.

According to the auction trend report by Gigi Auction on the 6th, the number of auctions conducted nationwide in March was 3,876, the lowest ever recorded.

Among these, 1,364 were successfully bid. The success rate was 35.2%, and the bid price ratio was 70.1%. The average number of bidders increased by 0.3 from the previous month to 4.8.

The progress rate, which indicates the ratio of conducted auctions to scheduled auctions, was only 25.7%, about one-third of the usual rate. A total of 15,083 auction cases were scheduled for bidding last month, and 68.3% of them, or 10,309 cases, had their bidding dates changed. A Gigi Auction official stated, "This is the highest change rate and the largest number of changes since we built the related statistical database in 2001."

The previous highest change rate record was 12.2% in March 2016 (with 14,724 scheduled cases), and the record for the largest number of changes was 3,980 cases in June 2005 (with 41,192 scheduled cases).

No auctions were conducted last month in Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, and Sejong. The auction cases with changed dates are expected to be processed sequentially from this month onward.

Since participation in auctions requires visiting the bidding courtroom in person, long lines for masks were seen. Currently, courts restrict entry to the building if visitors are not wearing masks and measure visitors' temperatures. Additionally, a distance of more than 2 meters is maintained between individuals inside the courtroom, and auction results are announced with time intervals.

The most popular items in the auctions held last month were apartments located in Nokyang-dong and Millak-dong, Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. They received 73 and 67 bid submissions respectively, ranking first and second nationwide in the number of bidders.