The Moncrieff land sale last month was the first time the Independent Property Group had used a first-in, first-served email system to sell government land, chief executive John Runko said.
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The sale, in which more than 800 people competed for just 77 blocks, has upset failed buyers who sent emails at 10am as the sale opened, only to miss out. All blocks went within three minutes of 10am, sold in the order emails were received by the Independent Property Group.
Mr Runko said there were few options for over-the-counter sales when demand was so high.
The Moncrieff blocks were deliberately priced as affordable land, and the government "was always in a tight bind" when it had to make a call between higher prices at auction and helping people into less expensive land. An auction would push prices up and not allow land rent.
An over-the-counter sale in which buyers were required to turn up instead of email also had problems when demand was high, risking "800 people turning up at a shopfront".
Mr Runko said he could understand why people were upset at missing out.
"When you sit there and you press the button at 10 o'clock and you still miss out by a long way when in your own mind you think, I have done all I could do."
But the issue was demand.
"When you have got that high demand for blocks of land there are always going to be people who are disappointed they missed out," he said. "If there are 800 people wanting 77 blocks I don't think there is a method that's going to keep everybody happy."
The Moncrieff blocks were limited to one per buyer, but the sale has nevertheless raised concerns about whether people were able to send multiple emails or missed out simply through the vagaries of their computer server.
Asked about duplicate registrations, Land Development Agency chief executive David Dawes said registrations were not analysed for duplications before contracts were exchanged. At that point, related-party checks were made to ensure people bought only one block.
As to the failed buyer who told The Canberra Times he sent an email precisely at 10.00am as the sale opened – and has the email trail to prove it – the Land Development Agency said it received his email at 10.14am. The buyer said he ended up 275th in the queue, and is concerned "something is wrong in this process".
He confirms he received an email confirmation at 10.14am, indicating his email took 14 minutes to reach the agency, which he can't fathom. His wife sent an email earlier in the morning, at 9.14am, and received a confirmation reply at 9.14am, but the system appeared to get clogged up from 10am. Not only did his email take 14 minutes to reach the agency, an email from his wife at 10.04am was not confirmed as received until 10.46am.
Figures provided by Mr Dawes show that of the 1134 single-residential sites sold to date in Moncrieff, 406 went to ordinary buyers, 604 went to builders and in packaged lots, and 124 were allocated to public housing, defence housing and affordable housing.
:
- June 2014 packaged lots in builders' ballot: 447 blocks, average price $233,651
- November 2014 public ballot: 317 blocks, average price $244,000, range $175,000-$298,000
- December 2014 display village tender: 12 blocks
- July 2015 packaged lots sold by affordable tender: 108 blocks
- September 2015 packaged lots sold by auction: 8 blocks
- November 2015 email over-the-counter: 77 blocks, average price $280,636, range $206,000-$335,000
- December 2015 builders' ballot: 41 blocks
- Public housing taskforce: 66 allocated (plus another 79 multi-unit sites)
- Defence Housing: 23 allocated
- CHC Affordable Housing: 35 allocated
Multi-unit sites have been sold for 606 dwellings through a builder's ballot and two auctions, with 266 multi-unit dwelling releases scheduled for 2016-17.
