An apartment rented more than 40 years ago by the new Pope Benedict close to the German city of Bonn is up for sale on an Internet auction site just weeks after an online bidding frenzy for his six-year-old car.
Joseph Ratzinger, the German cardinal who became Pope last month, lived in the apartment in a suburb of Bonn between 1959 and 1963, whilst teaching theology at the local university.
The apartment is one of six within a four-story block built in the 1950s and being sold by Bonn property dealer Christopher Blatzheim.
Since it first appeared on the Web site on Friday, the building has drawn 13,424 hits, a spokeswoman for eBay said. Prospective buyers have a further 27 days to make private offers to the owner, as eBay rules forbid auctioning property.
"The seller had been thinking of offering the building through eBay for a long time. It was a coincidence that the Pope's Golf suddenly also became available -- but it proved his was a good idea," the spokeswoman said.
Last month an Internet casino company paid 21-year-old German Benjamin Halbe 188,938 euros ($238,900) for the grey Volkswagen Golf he had bought for 9,500 euros just three months before.
