HY RU EN
Asset 3

Loading

End of content No more pages to load

Your search did not match any articles

Marine Madatyan

Kapoutan Residents Zealously Buying Lands at Auction, Often For More Than Starting Bid

Land in the town of Kapoutan in Kotayk Province is selling like hotcakes, as residents continue to bid on land sold at auctions, resulting in lots being sold for much more than the starting bid.  

To show how valuable their land is to Kapoutan residents, Mayor SerobMikayelyan showed the auction sale that took place at the town administration that day: three residents had come to fight for one of town's pastures. The starting bid was 331 thousand AMD (about $810 USD), which after 340 bids became 2 million 13 thousand AMD ($4,933). One of the competitors finally said "I give up" and left without congratulating his opponent. 

No land put up for auction has yet been negotiated in a way that the town mayor was forced to calculate the price of the land with a calculator. "I'm in shock," said Mikayelyan.  

This bargaining confirms that the lands of Kapoutan are in demand. But the lots put up for sale in the past, in 2013, were sold at most after 3 bids. All the lots were sold as a result of two bidders. According to the 2013 auction sale records, mainly land for residential purposes was placed on the auction block. The 0.12 hectare lands with starting bids of  411 thousand AMD ($1,007) were sold after 3 bids for 426 thousand AMD ($1,044). 

"Now the village is developing. Four, five brothers live in one house and want to have a plot of land, put up a small house and make do. They don't want to leave the village, and that's a big thing," says the town mayor. According to the state registry, there are 35 people registered at the house of one of 2013 auction winners. At the auction, he acquired a plot of land for residential purposes. It's not only the locals who participate in the Kapoutan auctions. In the list presented by the town registration there were also people from Abovyan and Yerevan. One of the residential lands (0.06 hectares) was sold as a result of a dispute between mother and son; their address is registered in Yerevan. The mother refused to continue bidding; the son purchased the land with the third bid — adding 15,000 AMD to the starting bid of 171 thousand AMD ($419). 


The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Public Auctions and the Armenian Land Code don't prohibit members of the same family from competing for the same lot. In this case, if anyone wants to acquire land, he can run the auction through his family member. The town mayor says that it's all the same to him who bids in the auction — "there are no restrictions," he says. In this case, the lands were sold almost for the starting bid price.  

With the money in the village fund from the 2013 auctions, the network of street lighting was partially repaired, a LadaNiva make of car for work was purchased, and the the community's administrative building is being renovated. With the money from the sale of the pastures, according to Mikayelyan, one of the barriers protecting the town from explosion will be repaired.

Write a comment

If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter