The auction system is a complete farce. What CRT didn't realise when initially started auctioning moorings, is boaters already on mooring would put in low-ball bids, much lower than they were already paying, and sometimes win the auction. Then they would cancel their current mooring agreement and get the new one at a lower cost. Then their now-vacant mooring would be auctioned and another boater would bid low, etc etc and the net effect was a new, much lower market value for the whole site.
To stop this effect, CRT now set auction starting prices at the same level as other boaters on the site are currently paying, and if a space doesn't sell CRT claim it is 'not financially viable' for them to rent it at a lower price than the auction start price and they would rather it stayed empty. This is a half-truth at best in my opinion.