A desperate property developer in China said it would give a gold bar to anyone who buys a home it builds. Homebuyers say they're still waiting.

• A Chinese property developer is offering gold bars to buyers in a desperate bid to boost home sales.

• The developer is offering 2.2 pounds of gold for the purchase of a 1,000-square-foot apartment.

• But the aggressive sales tactic to exchange gold for flat purchases has since been suspended.

A Chinese property developer is offering free gold bars to homebuyers in a desperate bid to boost home sales in an ailing housing market. However, the campaign has since been suspended, with multiple buyers saying they've experienced monthslong waits for their promised gold.

According to The Guardian and local media outlets, the property developer in question is Huafa Group, which is based in Hangzhou, a city in eastern China. The developer was trying to move units in a development called Huafa Hui Tianfu. An advertisement touting the promotion has been making the rounds on Weibo, China's Twitter-like messaging service.

A local intermediary for Huafu Group told Jiemian News that buyers would be given around 2.2 pounds of gold — worth over 470,000 Chinese yuan, or $66,000 — if they purchased a 1,000-square-foot apartment. Apartment prices for the development range between $307,000 to $350,000, per The Guardian.

Disgruntled buyers are raging over the gold bars

However, some buyers have been kept waiting for the promised gold after purchasing a flat.

A woman identified only by her last name, Zhu, told local news outlet Xiao Qiang Ri Xian on June 6 that she has yet to receive the gold bars that were promised. She said she bought her apartment in February. Zhu shared text message records with the news outlet that she said contained details of promises made by a sales representative from Huafa Group.

According to the screenshots of the messages seen by Insider, the sales representative claimed on March 2 that the company was in the process of buying the gold. The representative also assured Zhu that she would receive the gold bars in due course.

When Zhu followed up with the representative on April 10, she was told the gold would likely be ready by the end of the month, text messages show. When Zhu asked the representative for an update on April 20, the representative said they were not certain that they could get it to her in April.

Another buyer identified only by her last name, Shao, also told Xiao Qiang Ri Xian that she had yet to receive her gold after buying her apartment in March.

A Huafa representative told Qianjiang Evening News that the company had given out more than $1.4 million worth of gold but had since suspended distribution, citing difficulties in acquiring gold due to price fluctuations.

The gold bar promotional campaign has drawn much attention in China since: The Weibo thread discussing the issue has accumulated nearly 3 million views.

A representative for Huafa Group did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A staff member at Huafa told Insider the Huafa Hui Tianfu development had "nothing to do" with them.

Flashy giveaways are commonplace in China's property market

This is not the first time Chinese property developers have dangled freebies to entice homebuyers.

Another developer, Hangzhou Yuejia Real Estate Development Corporation, was offering buyers free cell phones, parking spaces, and even a 10-year waiver on estate maintenance fees, according to Sixth Tone.

The giveaways come as developers find themselves in a struggling housing market. In May, the number of homes sold across 50 key Chinese cities dropped 17.7% as compared to April, per the China Index Academy.

The sluggish housing market has fuelled speculation that the Chinese government could step in with a series of stimulus measures, according to Bloomberg.

But property developers are moving ahead with their aggressive and creative sales tactics. Developers have been known to offer alternative payment methods, where buyers can use crops such as wheat to make their down payments.

However, an oversupply of unsold flats in China means that it's a buyer's market right now, the Wall Street Journal reported in April. And that means even free gold bars may not be enough when it comes to coaxing Chinese home buyers.

"The gold offer hasn't yet helped people make up their minds," a local real estate agent told Sixth Tone.

"And given how the market is, buyers are not in a hurry to make a final decision," the agent added.

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