DETROIT (AP) -- Officials say a dozen homes in Detroit have been mistakenly demolished.

One of them had been purchased by a pair of artists who bought the east-side residence for $500 at a tax auction in October.

Kristine Diven and Micho McAdow planned to fix up the empty two-story home and move in by the spring.

But when they drove by one evening in December, their new house was gone.

The Detroit News reports (http://bit.ly/UrsrHy ) the structure had been demolished by the state's Land Bank Fast Track Authority as part of a program to eliminate blight near three schools.

City official Karla Henderson says at least 11 other properties also were demolished by mistake. They were purchased by a local investor.

According to city and state officials, mistakes like these are rare.

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