Chinese developers continue to find new ways of accepting payments for purchases of flats as the housing slump in the nation continues. Seazen Holdings launched a ‘watermelon scheme’ in June, where it invited buyers to sell up to 5,000kg of watermelons to them in order to offset RMB 100,000 ($14,921) of the price of a new flat. This follows its peer, Central China Real Estate was reported to have accepted payments for its homes in the form of garlic and wheat from farmers. Since local governments do not allow arbitrary price cuts, these developers are finding ways to cut prices, say analysts. Seazen is offering to pay RMB 20/kg for watermelons, at least 5x the going market rate. The developer said that the plan was currently paused as it is trying to perfect the scheme.
Seazen’s dollar bonds were trading weaker with its 4.45% 2025s down 1.3 points to 56.86 cents on the dollar.
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