Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    THE chance for individual car plate applicants to get a quota is becoming slimmer as 381,653 people tried to snap up the 2,934 quotas for individuals Friday, the first lottery after the Spring Festival holidays.

    For every 1,000 applicants, only 7.69 of them had the chance to get a quota to buy a car, the lowest rate since the policy came into effect in January last year.

    Car license plates were sold at an average price of 29,043 yuan (US$4,441), a little bit higher than the price of 25,800 yuan in the previous auction in January.

    This price is higher than the price of 21,884 yuan in Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, 20,103 yuan in Tianjin, and 27,487 yuan in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, according to Yang Li, vice manager with Shenzhen United Property and Share Rights Exchange, the organizer of the online auction of car plate quotas.

    Bidders who have successfully received license plates need to pay money into designated accounts within three days.

    Shenzhen is the seventh city in China that has implemented car purchase restrictions through lotteries or auctions. Beijing and Guiyang in Guizhou Province adopted lotteries, while Shanghai, Tianjin and Hangzhou adopted auctions.