Online housing sales festival kicks off as live-streamer Kuaishou aims to boost demand amid market slump

The video streamer launched ‘national home-buying season’ this week with promotions of property in tourist hotspots and bargain prices

Kuaishou sold US$1.4 billion in property last year as Chinese consumers become accustomed to viewing and buying homes through live streams

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Published: 4:00pm, 7 Dec 2023

Kuaishou Technology, China’s second-largest short video platform after ByteDance’s Douyin, has launched an “online festival” to encourage home sales amid a deep property market slump in the country.

The one-month campaign, called “national home-buying season”, started on Wednesday and will run through January 5, during which the platform will promote star agents, bargain prices and vouchers to encourage property buying, according to Kuaishou’s Ideal Home channel, its real estate brand established in June 2022.

The platform, which had 386 million daily active users by the end of September, offered users a “housing voucher” of 888 yuan (US$124) and another “settlement voucher” worth 1,888 yuan for those who secure a flat outside their home city, the notice said.

Kuaishou is promoting some listings in touristic areas, such as a three-bedroom, seaside flat in southern Hainan province for 1.8 million yuan or a smaller one along Kunming’s Dianchi Lake in southwestern Yunnan province for 570,000 yuan.

The promotional event comes as the world’s second-largest economy grapples with weak housing demand amid a slow post-pandemic recovery in consumer spending. Home prices in major Chinese cities fell for the fourth consecutive month in October, recording the steepest drop in nearly nine years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The government has rushed to stimulate demand by issuing new policies, from cutting mortgage rates to lowering thresholds for first-time buyers.

Kuaishou’s interest in the market comes from growth in home-buying online, particularly through live-streaming e-commerce. Many Chinese consumers now watch agents show off houses live and then make a purchase over the internet.