1 yr. ago • 98%

To circumvent local government's restriction on sharp price drop, Chinese real estates developers literally handed out gold ingots to home buyers.

Context :

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/gold-bars-used-to-lure-chinese-homebuyers-amid-market-slowdown

28 comments

I'm interested in why the bar is so chewed up. Are they handing out fakes as well?

48
- The cuts are probably to show the insides of the bar so they know it's solid gold all the way through. Who knows if they're handing out fakes though, imo it's very likely.
  
  51
  
  My hash dealers do the same thing. Gotta see all the nuances and check quality through and through.
  
  12
- you can commonly find tungstein cored gold bars at sites like alibaba.com for far cheaper than real ones.
  
  they are aparently pretty much indistinguishable from real bars without special equipment.
  
  aparently even some major banks found some in their inventories
  
  32
  
  I'd love something like that as a paperweight or door stop. Or to sit next to my trillion dollar coin
  
  12
- Possibly demonstrating ductility? Classier than chewing on the damn thing.
  
  13
- Uncanny valley of yummy. It looks wrong but also like candy
  
  8
  
  Yes, it looks as if it would have a great chewy consistency when biting into it ....
  
  1
- Are they handing out fakes as well?
  
  The Chinese are very good at this sort of thing.
  
  5
- Are they handing out fakes as well?
  
  This is china we are talking about. Of course they are.
  
  1
  
  You're telling me you would just accept a damn bar of gold handed to you in a similar situation without verifying somehow it is what the seller says it is?
  
  11
So now we're at the direct materials trading part of the dynasty.

45
I’m fucking dumb. What does this mean?

18
- This means that real estate developers are saying "I can't sell this house for $250K but I can sell it for $300K and give you a 1Kg ingot worth $50K" to get around the overvaluing of the house, because people won't buy the house at the prices Chinese government insists they should be sold.
  
  34
  
  Oh my… what a shit show. Thanks for explaining friend.
  
  4
- Governments are preventing companies from rapidly dropping house prices. But because they’re not worth what they’re forced to keep charging by the government (government isn’t forcing anyone to buy for example), developers are needing to add extra value to the sale to get buyers, hence the gold bars.
  
  House is worth $300k, but the government is forcing you to list it for $500k, so if I throw in $200k worth of gold bars, the whole sale is worth the price.
  
  25
  
  Wild. Can’t quite wrap my brain around how fucked this is.
  
  2
Why does it look like someone tried to cut it in half with scissors?

16
- I think that's what people do to prove it's gold cause it's a soft metal
  
  34
- It invoked the wrath of the beast.
  
  1
Where in this article does it say anything about local government restrictions? It says that this is a single housing firm doing this as a marketing stunt.

12
- Read past the first paragraph:
  
  Part of the reason that property developers are struggling to shift stock is that several cities, in an effort to stabilise the market, have banned developers from cutting prices.
  
  19
- It's usual for the western social media to point out anecdotal occurings and then project it on entire country as normality.
  
  3
Would anyone know how much is that ingot in the market?

7
- Gold price is like stocks, goues up and down. Check price / kg here https://goldprice.org/
  
  4
  
  So 1kg is around 61,000 USD at the moment.
  
  17

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