Central China Management – sister company of Central China Real Estate, the largest developer in Henan province – said in a recent ad that it will accept wheat payments for homes in the Minquan district.
The ad was posted on the company’s official WeChat account this week. Buyers can use beads to offset up to 160,000 yuan (nearly $24,000) their down payment. According to Leju Holdings, a real estate services provider, the new homes the company is offering for sale are between $100,000 and $124,000.
Wheat isn’t the only pantry staple featured in the developer’s promotional campaign.
In a separate advertisement last month, the company said that it was willing to accept garlic upfront for a residential project in Qi district, Henan province.
Henan province is a major production center in China for both wheat and garlic.
Central Administration of China did not respond to a request for comment and removed the wheat ad from WeChat on Wednesday. The campaign has been widely reported in Chinese media and is trending on social media.
A recent survey by China Real Estate Information, a private research firm, indicated that sales of the country’s top 100 developers fell 59% in May from a year ago.
Meanwhile, many developers are coming up with imaginative ways to drive sales.
Poly Real Estate, one of the country’s leading developers, says it will give gifts to buyers a 100 kg (220 lb) pig if they buy a home at their residential project in Lianyungang city, eastern Jiangsu province. The company even offered to slaughter pigs for customers.
“Buy a house and get a 200 catty ‘Peppa’ pig. Get a good life at a stopover” read the ad, posted on the company’s WeChat account last week, using Famous British cartoon character to refer to the pig.
“Catty” is a traditional Chinese unit of weight and is equal to 500 grams. A 200 catty pig is worth about 1,630 yuan ($242), based on the latest government valuation data. According to Leju’s data, the houses in the project cost between 184,000 and 260,000 USD.
Poly Real Estate did not respond to a request for comment.
Fixed: A previous version of this story wrongly attributed wheat and garlic advertising campaigns to an affiliate company.
