Caixin's reporter Wang Haichun reported on August 15th that the developer has come up with new tricks to boost sales. This time, a large real estate company has taken promotion to the sky.

According to the announcement released by China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings in Nanjing, it has recently launched the activity of buying a house and sending a private jet in the Prospecting Bureau Center in Nanjing. Purchase a house and get a private jet gift package worth 0.2 million yuan, including a pilot license, 100 hours of total flight time (10 hours per year) and 5% ownership of a private jet.

Questions have been raised about this activity: What does the 'pilot license' in the private jet gift package mean? Which types of airplanes are included for 'total flight time'? And what models of aircraft are included for '5% aircraft ownership'?

However, when the reporter consulted the sales office of the Prospecting Bureau Center about the details of the private jet gift package, a sales consultant did not introduce the specific contents of the gift package, but said that if you do not use the private jet package, this part of the equity can be converted into cash discounts.

"There are probably no buyers who choose the flight equity package, and will choose the cash discount of 0.2 million yuan. Because this equity of 0.2 million yuan can directly be deducted from the house payment. If you choose a flight gift package, the sale price of the selected property is still the same, and the buyer does not receive an actual discount, which is equivalent to buying the flight rights oneself, so almost no one will choose the flight package." said the aforementioned sales consultant.

Furthermore, it was stated that this activity will end at the end of August. Currently, four types of housing with an area ranging from 118 square meters to 181 square meters participate in this activity.

Meanwhile, Li Yujia, the chief researcher at the Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, pointed out that the so-called 'buying a house and sending a private jet gift package' from the Real Estate Company is more of a marketing stunt.

"Developers are doing this mainly to attract a large number of users, and then gain enough attention on the market. As long as they get enough users and attention, some of the demand may be transformed into actual purchase power during this process, thereby driving sales." said Li Yujia in an interview with the reporter.

As for the price of this property, it is not low.

According to data from Fang Holdings Limited, the average price of the Prospecting Bureau Central Zhenjing property is 47,500 yuan per square meter, and the total price is between 6.08-9.27 million yuan per set. However, according to the introduction of the sales consultant of the property, the current total price of a 143 square meter property is about 6.3 million yuan.

"The real estate company's project launched the 'buy house and send airplane package' activity, which is similar to the approach of 'buying a house and sending a parking space'. On the one hand, it attracts attention, and on the other hand, it indirectly reduces the price through promotional activities, by giving benefits to the buyer to accelerate the sales of the property." said Li Yujia.

Yan Yuejin, deputy director of the E-house Research Institute, also believes that the current activity by China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings's property is actually a disguised way to discount its properties.

"Over the past few years, there have been activities such as 'watermelon-for-house exchange', 'buy house and send pork', 'buy house and take the subway for free', and now there is the so-called 'buy house and send a private jet gift package'. This reflects that under the background of sales pressure, real estate companies are using novel marketing methods to attract buyers." said Yan Yuejin.

As to why the developer has chosen to use 'buying a house and sending a private jet gift package', analysts believe that this may be to avoid unnecessary trouble.

"This property should be a mid-to-high-end project in the local area. If it directly reduces the price or discounts it, it may cause dissatisfaction among previous owners and may also have an adverse impact on the property's reputation. However, with the high-end phase of the 'aircraft gift package' that looks on the surface, it is difficult for the market to use price reduction or discount. Thus, it hinders implementation of promotions, while also realizing discounts. It could be seen as killing two birds with one stone." said an analyst at a Shanghai real estate institution.

"The market has seen various ways of selling houses, indicating several characteristics of the current real estate market: The pressure to attract customers and complete transactions has increased, as shown by developers' increased marketing efforts and more frequent measures." said Yan Yuejin.

In fact, the new housing market in Nanjing is currently facing considerable pressure. At the market level, many real estate properties in Nanjing have played the price strategy card, reducing prices sharply to promote sales.

At the end of July, the Yazhoule Huigangcheng in Jiangbei, Nanjing, sold houses at a 40% discount, with a single price reduction of nearly 0.01 million yuan per square meter. Not only private enterprises, but also state-owned enterprises have reduced prices. In addition to the above mentioned project launched by China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings, China Res Land recently engaged in promotions, and some properties had a discount of around 20%.

In terms of making sales, the current housing market in Nanjing has a low turnover rate.

According to Ke Rui data, the turnover rate of new houses in Nanjing in July this year was only 4%, a decrease of 6 percentage points from June's 10%, and a decrease of 13 percentage points from the turnover rate of 17% in July last year.

Guo Rongxue, a senior analyst at Zhuge Data Research Center, believes that from the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today, the trend of new house prices in July is still dominated by falling, and the number of cities that fell compared to the previous month is still at a historical high. The adjustment trend of the bottom price has not changed.

"But at the same time, the overall month-on-month decline has continued to narrow slightly, which may also mean that prices are entering a stable fluctuation range from a period of sharp decline," Guo Rongxue added.