In the housing office at Xinhu Pearl Garden, the apartment complex located in downtown Shanghai, the new sales plan has been advertised in a most eye-catching place.

According to the new plan, buyers need only pay 100 thousand yuan or 12.5 thousand US dollars of their down payment after making deals with the developer, instead of paying the state-specified 30 percent of an apartment's total price up front.

The rest of the down payment can be paid periodically, stretching out from this October to February of next year.

For example, if you buy an apartment worth 1.5 million yuan, before you had to pay at least 30 percent as a down payment, or 450 thousand yuan up front. Now, you can pay 100 thousand in October, and the rest of the 35 thousand yuan down payment over the next four months.

The real estate developer is positive about the new promotional sales plan. Gao Zenghua is the marketing manager.

"The buyers don't need to apply for a loan from the bank until they pay the full down payment. By then, their apartments will have been completed. It will be assuring for buyers."

However, on the first day of the promotion, there weren't as many customers as expected. Actually the developer has only been selling one apartment per day, a number far below the one hundred deals closed everyday when the real estate market was hot over a year ago.

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