Desperate Developer Offers Free Tesla With Purchase Of New Vancouver House

Vancouver real estate has been one of the world’s weakest luxury markets for the last 12 months. The city, once a mecca for foreign money and skyrocketing home prices, is now seeing real estate developers panic as homes go unsold, that is why one firm is now offering free Teslas to attract millennial homebuyers with the purchase of a new condominium and or townhouse in the Metro Vancouver area, reported CTV News Vancouver.

“For every home you purchase we’re going to include a free Tesla,” said Celia Chiu, sales manager for Viridian Homes.

Viridian is an upscale townhome community in South Surrey, British Columbia. It resides overlooking Nicomekl River, with over 57 townhomes in the neighborhood.

Developer Century Group has sold 47 out of the 57 homes, and the last remaining ten will be offered with a free Tesla Model 3.

Chiu said the unsold homes have been on the market for at least one year, but the community has “been around for two years and with a market having kind of a subtle stall, we wanted to take it to the next level” and attract millennials.

Each of the 57 homes has about 2,000 square feet of living space and a price tag of more than a million dollars.

The promotion kicked off last week and will continue through Oct. 21, or until the ten homes are sold.

“An incentive like this does have to have a wow factor,” Chiu added.

Each home with the Tesla promotion will include a charging station in the garage, something Century Group president Sean Hodgins said in a press release reflects the project’s “innovative design with energy-efficient capabilities.”

With Metro Vancouver area home prices plunging -13.6% YoY in 2Q19, developers have been offering innovative promotions to attract millennial homebuyers.

Earlier this year, Woodbridge Home offered millennials free avocado toast for a year if they bought a home in the Kira development in West Coquitlam.

Wesgroup Properties offered young homebuyers a glass of wine per day for a year if they purchased a home at MODE in South Vancouver.

Real estate agent Gurdial Badh told CTV News Vancouver that the promotions are unique. “Either there are promotions or a price reduction to come in line with what the market is today,” Badh said.

Since the market has been soft this year, prices have dropped, but sales have started to rise.

“We’re seeing a lot more activity on the lower range and once the low range starts moving then obviously it will have an impact on the higher price range properties,” said Badh.

To support the ailing real estate industry, Badh said the government needs to intervene and do more to assist first-time homebuyers.

“The main thing I think the government needs to do is help these first-time buyers,” he said, with the hope the market will turn back up.

And when real estate developers overbuild into a market that is shifting lower, they will do pretty desperate things to attract new homebuyers, such as offering Teslas, and or even avocados and free wine.