The one-month campaign, called “national home-buying season”, started on Wednesday and will run through January 5, during which the platform will promote star agents, bargain prices and vouchers to encourage property buying, according to Kuaishou’s Ideal Home channel, its real estate brand established in June 2022.
The platform, which had 386 million daily active users by the end of September, offered users a “housing voucher” of 888 yuan (US$124) and another “settlement voucher” worth 1,888 yuan for those who secure a flat outside their home city, the notice said.
People’s Daily calls for tighter control of live-streaming e-commerce in China
People’s Daily calls for tighter control of live-streaming e-commerce in China
Kuaishou is promoting some listings in touristic areas, such as a three-bedroom, seaside flat in southern Hainan province for 1.8 million yuan or a smaller one along Kunming’s Dianchi Lake in southwestern Yunnan province for 570,000 yuan.
The government has rushed to stimulate demand by issuing new policies, from cutting mortgage rates to lowering thresholds for first-time buyers.
Kuaishou’s interest in the market comes from growth in home-buying online, particularly through live-streaming e-commerce. Many Chinese consumers now watch agents show off houses live and then make a purchase over the internet.
Last year, Kuaishou sold 10 billion yuan worth of property through live-streaming, according to Liu Xiao, head of Ideal Home, who added that it aimed to have 100 agencies on the platform this year.
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What is Kuaishou? Understanding China’s video-sharing app
What is Kuaishou? Understanding China’s video-sharing app
In an effort to boost housing supply, the company has also partnered with developers, including Shanghai Forte Land, Nantian Group in Ningbo, eastern Zhejiang province, and Qingfeng Group in southwestern Sichuan province.
It has since run the department purely online, experimenting with the new model starting in Sichuan’s capital city Chengdu, which facilitated nearly 500 deals in the third quarter, according to a report by Hongxing News, a news outlet from Chengdu Economic Daily.