Realty bites developers

Fraudsters trick customers into buying poor quality or fake goods that otherwise they would never set their eyes on. But it's surprising to hear that some real estate developers in Beijing have reportedly resorted to similar tricks by paying retirees to act as clients and mislead potential buyers into believing there's a boom in the property market.

Is this the proper way of rejuvenating the sluggish housing market? Or is it an act of suicide? We think it's the latter.

Realty developers have employed all conceivable means to extract the maximum from customers and made massive profits from the rapid hike in housing prices in the past several years. There have been many cases of customers being fooled by developers' specifications in purchase contracts. Many developers have failed to keep their promise when it comes to the quality of houses or the expanse of greenery in a residential complex. Thus, it won't be an exaggeration to say that some of them have used nasty tricks, usually associated with fraudsters, to sell residential and other units.