Desperate Chinese property developer willing to ‘swap wheat for house’

Screenshot of advertisement from Central China Serious Estate presenting to let consumers use garlic crops to make their downpayment on a property

HONG KONG, June 21 (Reuters) – (This Jun. 21 tale corrects to make clear the ads were from developer Central China, not Central China Serious Estate and provides income figures of Central China True Estate)

A determined developer in China’s softening assets current market is coming up with a novel marketing to bring in buyers, lately featuring to just take wheat and garlic as down payments.

1 advertisement of Henan-dependent developerCentral China that had “swap wheat for house” in the title states customers can use the crop, priced at 2 yuan for each catty, a Chinese unit of mass equal to around 500 grams, to offset as substantially as 160,000 yuan ($23,900.22) of down payment in 1 of its developments.

A Central China revenue agent who answered the phone amount on the advertisement stated the marketing, aimed generally at farmers in the region, begun on Monday and will stop on July 10. The improvement in the central province of Henan offers homes for all over 600,000 to 900,000 yuan, said the agent who declined to give her name.

The venture is run by Central China Management Organization Confined (9982.HK), a challenge management unit of the group.

Central China Management Firm did not straight away respond to a Reuters ask for for remark.

The serious estate device of the group, Central China Actual Estate (0832.HK), recorded a 71.3% plunge in May perhaps product sales from a yr ago, when income in the first five months dropped 48.6%.

Late final thirty day period, one more Central China ad reported purchasers of properties in yet another development could make down payments in garlic at 5 yuan for each catty.

The garlic advertising attracted 852 visits and 30 transactions involving 860,000 catties of garlic all through the 16 days it was out there, the ad explained.

The wholesale sector cost for the two garlic and wheat is 1.5 yuan per 500 grams.

Home builders are scrambling to strengthen gross sales following a nosedive in transactions in January to May well, as China’s strict COVID-19 curbs merged with concerns about a deeper home correction cloud Beijing’s 2022 financial development concentrate on of 5.5%. go through far more

Additional frequent promotions by developers include things like absolutely free parking plenty or renovations right after buy.

Metropolitan areas across China have introduced hundreds of home easing actions this 12 months to revive a sector that accounts for a quarter of the world’s 2nd-major economy’s total output.

This sort of measures include scaled-down down payments, subsidies and improved terms for households with much more than one kid.

Assets brokers stated buyer sentiment is commencing to improve but it was much too early to contact a turning place simply because of the numerous economic uncertainties China was dealing with.

“Some developments are marketing very nicely. These are the ones featuring cost cuts or promotions,” reported Andy Lee, chief government officer at real estate agent Centaline China.

($1 = 6.6945 yuan)

Reporting by Clare Jim Enhancing by Marius Zaharia and Christian Schmollinger

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