Buyers at the weekend auction at the Sage condominium project on South Lamar Boulevard paid as little as $176,000 for a two-bedroom unit, the auction firm said.

The sale of the 18 units brought in a total of $3.7 million. Winning bids ranged from $176,000 to $253,000, with an average price of $205,000, according to J.P. King Auction Co., the Alabama-based company that handled the auction. The units previously were priced from $299,900 to $469,000.

It was the third time in recent months that Austin condominium developers had turned to auctions to sell off their last units in a slowing market.

In May, Kennedy Wilson Inc. auctioned off the last 20 units in the Brazos Place condo project at Eighth and Brazos streets downtown. The least expensive unit sold for $168,480, including the buyer's premium charged by the auctioneer, down from the listed price of $199,900. A penthouse originally listed for $1.6 million sold for $967,200.

On Aug. 9, developers of the Bel Air on South Congress Avenue sold the project's last 20 units in an auction. One-bedroom units sold for between $170,000 and $180,000, said Rhett Winchell, president of Kennedy Wilson's Auction Group, which conducted the sale.

The least expensive units previously were priced in the upper $200,000s. Bidding started at $90,000.

The two-bedroom units sold for $180,000 to $240,000, including the buyer's premium.

On Saturday, more than 400 people attended the Sage auction at the Hyatt Regency, though not all were registered bidders, said Craig King, president and CEO of J.P. King.

The developer had turned to an auction to sell the remaining residences in the 32-unit project, which opened when the market had slowed.

King said that with the condo market slowing, it did leave an overhang of inventory in the Austin area.

Auctions are an attractive alternative for developers who want to close out those projects, King said.