"Sign a sales contract and also receive a car as a prize." In Daegu, once known as the "graveyard of unsold properties," high-value prizes that were only seen during the worst real estate market downturns have begun to appear.
According to the sales industry on the 20th, the section office "Suseong El Centro," currently being sold in Suseong-gu, Daegu, offered vehicles from domestic automakers as prizes in a giveaway event for contract customers. While prize events featuring coffee coupons and home appliances are common in the sales market, high-value items like cars are somewhat unusual.
Prizes in the sales market are considered an indirect indicator reflecting the market’s sense of crisis. In Daegu, even apartments have accumulated unsold inventory, causing the real estate market to shrink rapidly. A sales company official said, "The level of prizes varies depending on the market situation," adding, "When sales prospects are poor or there is a risk of prolonged unsold inventory, high-priced foreign cars have sometimes been offered as prizes." He explained, "Right after the 2008 financial crisis, when the real estate market was in its worst slump, foreign cars were given as prizes not only in provincial areas but also in the metropolitan area."
Prizes in the real estate market have varied in level depending on the market situation. They ranged from daily necessities like shampoo and detergent to overseas trips, gold bars, and foreign cars, depending on the time and place. In 2015, an officetel sold in Cheongju offered Hermes brand bags worth about 20 million won as prizes to contract holders. In December 2016, the apartment complex "Dongcheon The Sharp East Foret" offered a Mercedes-Benz C-Class as a prize to applicants. This complex also presented 200g gold bars and luxury bags as prizes. Relatively recently, three years ago, foreign car prizes appeared in the metropolitan area as well. "Hillstate Gwanggyosan" in Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, offered one Mercedes-Benz (E300), along with LG Electronics’ Styler and Dyson hairdryer as prizes.
The reason for offering prizes worth tens of millions of won is that it is more efficient to spend some marketing costs than to suffer losses from unsold inventory. A sales agency official said, "It is true that overseas travel packages and foreign cars are more expensive than prizes in other industries, but compared to the unit price of real estate products such as commercial buildings, officetels, and apartments, they are not significantly high." He added, "From a cost perspective, it is much more effective to increase the sales rate through bold initial marketing than to spend additional operating and marketing costs later due to poor sales performance."
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