Over a thousand home seekers chase just four flats at Parc City in Tsuen Wan

The odds were stacked against them, at more than 300 to 1. But in a property market as hot as Hong Kong’s that wasn’t enough to stop some 1,300 home seekers queuing for a chance to get their hands on just four flats in Parc City, Tsuen Wan.

And according to estate agents, about 1,000 of them were after just one small unit.

“It shows the market is really hot. About 80 per cent of these people are chasing after one small two-bedroom unit that costs HK$6 million,” said Sammy Po, chief executive at Midland Realty’s residential department.

“Most of them were just trying their luck. It’s like hitting a jackpot in Mark Six,” he added, referring to Hong Kong’s popular lottery.

A long line of potential buyers started to form at 9am on Tuesday outside the sales office in Nina Tower, as Chinachem offered the four units for resale after their original buyers walked away. Having paid their deposits, their bids were entered into a raffle to decide who would become a lucky resident of the sought-after address.

The four flats, ranging in size from 427 to 850 square feet had been sold first time around on August 25 but the transactions did not proceed to completion. The original buyers had paid between HK$6 million and HK$14.4 million each, according to the website of the government’s Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority.