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Some Chinese real-estate developers are accepting crops as down payments to help boost sales.
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People can pay up to $23,900 of the down payment using wheat, priced at $0.30 per 21 ounces.
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Total property sales in China are expected to have dropped by 25% in the first quarter of 2022.
In China's depressed real-estate market, desperate developers are accepting wheat and garlic as down payments for rural properties to boost sales.
The alternative payment method comes as analysts expect property sales in China to have dropped by 25% from January to June amid China's zero-Covid strategy, according to Reuters.
China's citizens are also shying away from real-estate investments, preferring to hoard cash in China's uncertain economic climate, Bloomberg reported in May.
To boost sales, property developer Central China Real Estate is offering a "swap wheat for house" promotion for homes in Minquan County, Henan Province, CNN reported, referring to a now-removed ad on the company's official WeChat account. Priced at 2 Chinese yuan ($0.30) for every catty (21 ounces), buyers can pay up to 160,000 yuan ($23,900) of their down payment with wheat. Prices of houses in the development range from 600,000 yuan ($89,550) to 900,000 yuan ($134,300.)
The promotion will end on July 10 and is targeted at farmers in the region, an agent from Central China Real Estate told Business Standard.
The company is no stranger to launching marketing campaigns targeting farmers. At the start of China's garlic season in May, the company accepted garlic as payment for another project in Henan Province, per the development's official Wechat account.
"On the occasion of the new garlic season, the company has made a resolute decision to benefit garlic farmers in Qi County," the company wrote in the WeChat post. "We are helping farmers with love, and making it easier for them to buy homes," it added.
Central China Real Estate fell by 40.4% in net profit in 2021, per the firm's 2021 Annual Investor Relations report. The company did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The marketing strategy is not limited to one developer: Two other developers in the eastern Chinese cities of Nanjing and Wuxi were accepting watermelons and peaches from farmers according to state-run media outlet China News Weekly.
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