A CENTRAL China-based developer is coming up with a novel promotion to attract buyers by accepting wheat and garlic as down payments, according to the firm’s marketing post.

Central China Real Estate Ltd. is offering to pay buyers as much as 160,000 yuan (US$24,000) for their wheat to offset down payments for homes in its River Mansion residential development in Shangqiu, a city in the central province of Henan.

A Central China sales agent said the promotion, aimed mainly at farmers in the region, started Monday and will end July 10. The development offers houses for around 600,000 to 900,000 yuan, said the agent who declined to give her name.

Late last month, another Central China advertisement said buyers of houses in another development in Kaifeng could make down payments in garlic.

The garlic promotion attracted 852 visits and 30 transactions involving 860,000 catties of garlic during the 16 days it was available, the advertisement said.

Central China was offering to buy wheat at 4 yuan a kilogram, higher than the record 3-3.1 yuan that China’s State stockpiling company was purchasing the grain earlier this month.

Henan is China’s largest wheat-producing area. The country just had another bumper harvest of winter-sown wheat.

Similarly for garlic, Central China offered to pay 10 yuan a kilogram last month. That’s higher than the 6.92 yuan wholesale price as of June 10, according to weekly data released by the commerce ministry.

The move reflects how far some developers are willing to go to attract wary homebuyers after a nosedive in transactions in January to May.

More common promotions by developers include free parking lots or renovations after purchase.

Cities across China have introduced hundreds of property easing measures this year to revive a sector that accounts for a quarter of the world’s second-largest economy’s overall output.

Such steps include smaller down payments, subsidies and better terms for households with more than one child.

Property agents said buyer sentiment is starting to improve but it was too early to call a turning point because of the many economic uncertainties China was facing.

“Some developments are selling quite well. Those are the ones offering price cuts or promotions,” said Andy Lee, CEO at realtor Centaline China. (SD-Agencies)