Man bids against himself to win dream house

A Melbourne man won a house auction using an unusual bidding tactic.

A Melbourne man's novel bidding tactic has won him his dream house.

Ben Cohn and his fiancee attended an auction for a house in Ripponlea last month, where Cohn stunned onlookers by repeatedly bidding against himself.

Cohn said his tactic was to up the bidding every 10 seconds - even if it meant bidding against himself - so any counter bidder would think he had endless money to bid on the house.

The couple managed to snap up the four-bedroom property for just over A$2 million ($2.1m) - well below what they were prepared to pay.

Cohn surprised other bidders, and his fiancee, who he hadn't told his plan to. Auctioneer Gary Peer, who had been in real estate for 36 years, told Australian media he had never seen anything like it.

"I've never seen that technique before, it really did throw me," Peer said.

"It confounded the underbidder, they were gathering around, scratching their heads, not knowing what was going on."

The strategy was to up the bid by small amounts so as soon as someone bid, Cohn would immediately place a bid $1000 more, wait 10 seconds and then up the bid by another $1000.

Cohn said the strategy was a deliberate one, firstly so bidders would know they were serious, and secondly to put others off bidding.

The plan worked with the couple winning the house.