China's real-estate market is in such a slump that cities are offering discounts for group purchases and tasking civil servants with selling apartments

China's real-estate market is in distress, with home buyers refusing to pay their mortgage and home sales slumping by 40% in July from a year ago.

Last year's Evergrande debt crisis was caused by Beijing's cracking down on excessive borrowing in 2020. The cash crunch has caused projects to be put on hold and depressed buying sentiment.

The Paper reported in July that some cities in China have come up with unusual ways to drive sales. According to an Insider review, the practice is still going on.

Smaller cities with high numbers of readily available housing are where collective buying is taking place. The city of Huanggang in the central province of Hubei was giving a discount of at least 3% to any group with at least 20 buyers, according to the media outlet.

There is a video of a Communist Party official urging people to buy more apartments. Purchase two if you've bought one. Purchase three if you've bought two. Deng Bibo, a county party secretary in China's Hunan province, told people at a real-estate fair to buy four. Deng spoke to the party's leadership in his speech.

China's leadership appears to be taking the lead in trying to shore up the country's property market, as some civil servants in the eastern city of Sixian have been tasked with selling properties to their family and friends, according to a report.

Civil servants were told by the Sixian government to get their friends and relatives involved in buying homes.

China's developers and authorities are trying to increase sales in the depressed market. Crops such as wheat and garlic have been accepted as down payments by some developers.