The ACT government was flooded with more than 800 applications for the 77 residential blocks released in the new suburb of Moncrieff on sale day last month, with such heated competition that every block was nabbed within three minutes of the sale opening.

The 77 blocks were released at 10am on November 9, with buyers securing the land by sending an email once the sale opened. The Canberra Times has heard from one buyer who sent his email precisely at 10am and says he was told it arrived at 10.01am. That put him in 275th spot – nearly 200 places outside the winning cohort.

An aerial image of the new suburb of Moncrieff.

The blocks, in a new suburb on the far northern edge of Gungahlin, sold for an average of $280,636. The cheapest block, at 287 square metres, sold for $206,000. The most expensive block, at 870 square metres, sold for $335,000.

They were sold "over the counter" at a set price, not by auction, and were sold as individual blocks for free-standing homes.