Boston woman coughs up $560k for two parking spaces

A US woman has splashed out $560,000 on two parking spaces.

Lisa Blumenthal forked out the huge sum for a pair of off-road parking spots near her home in Boston, Massachusetts, in the city's Back Bay neighbourhood, where spaces are tough to find because the area was constructed before cars were invented.

The spots, which Lisa plans to use for guests who visit her, were auctioned off by the Internal Revenue Service, and bidding started at $42,000.

She told the Boston Globe: "It was a little more heated than I thought it would have been."