Year in review: first Chinese island ever auctioned sells for $3 million
Da-yangyu, the first island ever to be put up for auction in China, sold last month for 20 million yuan ($3 million). Ningbo Gaobao Investment, which deals in real estate and tourism development, won a three-way bidding war for the right to use the land for 50 years and build a luxury resort.
The start bidding price was set at 15 million yuan, with the tourism development companies required to have had a registered capital of 50 million yuan or above.
Covering an area of 0.258 square kilometres, Dayangyu Island is 300 metres far from the mainland.
"It has rich natural resources, especially in vegetation and seafood, and it's a great spot for sailing on the big, blue sea," buyer Yang Weihua, general manager of Ningbo Gaobao, said.
She advised her company would invest about 500 million yuan into the project, but declined to reveal more details. The losing bidders for the island were Xiangshan Tourism Group and Xiangshan Movie Development.
Dayangyu Island, which lies off the coast of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, was once an orchard and hunting site.
It is among the first batch of 176 uninhabited islands made available to domestic and foreign developers by the State Oceanic Administration.
