The last auction was held in December 2009 after which two auctions were planned in the subsequent years but could not be held.

“Despite our best efforts, for some reasons, we were not able to hold auctions after 2009. This time, we are in the process of finialising the modalities very soon,” said a senior official of the UT Administration on condition of anonymity.

This time around, the auction is planned to be held in the third or fourth week of December wherein about 120 properties — both commercial and residential — are expected to go under the hammer.

Interestingly, most of these sites are those which had no takers during the last auction.

Notwithstanding the crash in the real estate sector, the UT officials are also hinting at an increase of about 10-20 per cent in the reserve prices of both segments of properties, given that the auction will be held after a gap of three years.

Sources say out of 120 sites likely to be put in the auction are 59 commercial sites, “booths” which did not fetch the amount above the reserve price in the last auction in 2009.

The reserve price of these booths was between Rs 40.1 lakh and Rs 90 lakh. Besides, there would be six lodging-cum-restaurant sites in Sector 43 which had also met the same fate. At that time, the reserve price for these sites was Rs 4.53 crore. A dozen such sites were put on auction last time, out of which six were taken and six were left. These six sites went under the hammer for between Rs 8.5 crore and Rs 12.21 crore.

Interestingly, while the recent auctions by GMADA and HUDA in Mohali and Panchkula got a rather lukewarm response, UT officials are hopeful as the real estate is still fetching higher price as compared to the peripheral areas of Mohali and Panchkula.

During the auction held in 2009, a total of 104 commercial sites were listed, out of which 12 sites were auctioned and fetched a total revenue of Rs 72.77 crore.

Similarly, in the auction held in 2008, 34 commercial sites were listed for auction, and six of these were taken for Rs 16.10 crore.

In the residential segment, in the auction held in 2009, 42 sites were listed. Out of these, 33 went under the hammer fetching a revenue of Rs 77.75 crore.