Pay mortgage now to clear debt

BANKS are encouraging homeowners on cheap variable-rate mortgages to consider clearing their debts more quickly by using spare cash to boost monthly repayments.

Read Full Story

Have Your Shout

Get posting in the Star Forums!

You can join the debate and post your own views in the lively Daily Star Forums!

BUY A FLAT; GET A FREE WIFE

ABOVE: A BRIDE IDEA: The Beijing apartments

24th May 2009

By Andy Lea

A PROPERTY DEVELOPER has a novel plan to beat the credit crunch – he’s throwing in a free wife with every home.

Prospective buyers are being lured into Beijing’s upmarket Ecological Bay project with the offer of a wedding to one of their pretty sales girls.

And the company, Jin Tai Cheng, has sweetened the deal even more by promising a dowry.

The girls’ vital statistics are on the company’s website so rich buyers can choose their height, bra size and age while deciding on the size of their kitchens and the colour of their curtains. The blurb reads “Planning to buy a house? Can we tempt you with the offer of a young bride – and a dowry as well?”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THE BEST HEADLINES FROM THE DAILY STAR

The company is offering a wedding present of £6,000 to couples who are still married after a year.

And as an extra incentive to marry buyers, the girls can pick up a bumper 8% commission on all sales to keep for themselves.

Chinese fellas have trouble finding wives simply because of the scarcity of young women.

There are around 120 men to every 100 women in China since the communist government’s “One Child” policy in the 80s saw many parents abort female babies.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DAILY STAR LIFESTYLE

Some commentators see the offer as a sign of the increasingly desperate times for China’s once booming property market.

Apartment blocks have sprung up all over Chinese cities in the past few years but since the credit crunch hit the brakes have been slammed on the economy and housing sales have plummeted by 19.7%.

Sources in the company think the new scheme could be a winner.

One said: “The girls don’t lose face by putting themselves on sale, the husbands don’t lose face by going to an agency to look for a bride and the developer makes a nice profit. "

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DAILY STAR PROPERTY NEWS