Local Chinese authorities try unusual tactics, from group-buying discounts to priority in state jobs, to spur home sales
- Guizhou province fails in its efforts to boost home sales through a group buying scheme despite offering generous discounts
- Similar marketing schemes implemented by more than 20 tier-2 and tier-3 cities also prove to be unsuccessful
In Guiyang, the capital of China’s southwest Guizhou province, thousands of new homes offered at discounts for group purchases had property agents rubbing their hands in glee. Sadly, their excitement was short-lived.
The price of a new home in the city’s Baiyun district with landscaped gardens and housekeeping service in October was reduced by 50,000 yuan (US$7,430), but it did not seem to generate interest.
“People mostly came to view the flats,” said Chen, a property agent who only gave her family name. The response was just lukewarm as there were not many serious buyers among them, she added.
There was not much interest either for another project in Wudang district in the capital, according to another property agent surnamed Wang, who sought buyers for units in the project that counts its proximity to a new metro line as a big selling point.
“Although there were many refinements in property policies, it was akin to ‘squeezing toothpaste’ to ease the pressure little by little,” said Hu Jinghui, chief economist at the Jinghui Think Tank. “I think there should be a major, one-off fine-tuning [to spur demand].”