Why is the random purchase timer up to 24 hours rather than 8-12 hours?

[Almagnus1]

The timer isn't there to give more players a chance to buy. It's to hinder direct sale of houses player to player.

People end up excluded regardless depending on when the timer is released. Either someone can be online at that moment or they can't. Demolition doesn't occur at a specific time daily so there's still going to be variety in when the timer gets released.

I would agree that the shorter the timer, the more the competition at the placard would increase.

A lot of people don't get that housing has (and will continue) to be used in RMT, and SE has been fighting that battle for a long time. The timer is an anti-RMT measure... but its effectiveness is debatable.