Chinese developers accept wheat, garlic as payment to attract buyers: Report

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Some real estate property developers in China are offering individuals to make down payments in wheat and garlic to buy houses, according to a report by state-run Chinese daily Global Times on Friday.

The move aims to attract farmers to buy new properties as they move their excess agricultural inventories into the markets, while the world grapples with short supply and high prices of food.

A couple of property developers have already introduced such moves in China's third- and fourth-tier cities, such as in central China’s Henan province and in Henan’s Minquan county, according to the report.

The down payment for an apartment varies between 200,000 yuan ($29,900) to 270,000 yuan ($40,300), it added.

While the market price for wheat is 1.5 yuan ($0.22) per 500 grams, buyers could make a down payment for apartments at a price of 5 yuan ($0.75) per 500 grams, the report said.

A total of 430 million grams of garlic had been exchanged for 30 apartments as of June 6, it added.

China’s commercial home sales totaled 4.83 trillion yuan ($720 billion) in the first five months, down 31.5% from the same period of last year.

Residential home sales, meanwhile, contracted 34.5% during the same period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.