If you think the United States real estate market has it bad, wait until you hear what has happened with an apartment building in China. When the sale of apartments in Deyi Konggang International Garden residential compound near Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport was announced, hopeful purchasers flocked to it. But anomalies over unfair distribution of numbers that were to determine order of selection and purchase of the apartments led to a brawl during the opening.

The hopeful homebuyers confronted developer Dandy Holding Group Corporation. According to Hangzhou-based Youth Times, the situation got so out of hand that one man was even beaten into coma and was rushed to the hospital. By the time law enforcement arrived, physical violence had concluded and now the police are investigating the matter. According to some of the hopeful buyers, they were issued numbers to determine who would get first dibs on the 448 apartments in four buildings. The units sold for an average 8,000 yuan ($1,600) per square meter. However, the tickets, which were sold, not given away, numbered far higher than the number of apartments, even though ticket-holders had been led to believe that the purchase of the ticket guaranteed the opportunity to buy an apartment. Ticket holders were brought in by bus, and one buyer reported, “There are only 448 apartments, so it’s impossible for the people assigned to buses after the 15th to buy an apartment, given that every bus has at least 30 seats. So I spent 5,500 yuan (S$1,100) for a spot on the 6th bus.”

The incident is just one of the many cases in China that demonstrates the frenzy over home-buying that has resulted from soaring property prices. In other parts of the country, similar but smaller conflicts have been happening.

[1]http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110111-257631.html