A Metro Vancouver condo developer is offering free avocado toast for a year – in an attempt to appeal to millennial homebuyers.
“Our approach with Kira has always been from the get-go to provide a product at the entry level position in the market,” said Suzana Goncalves, MLA Canada’s chief advisory officer.
“It is something the market really needs.”
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The developer, Woodbridge Homes, is building the Kira Project with one-, two- and three-bedroom condos in West Coquitilam.
The much bigger incentive according to Goncalves is a limited chance to only pay 10 per cent of the down payment.
“Normally for new projects the deposit is somewhere between 15 to 25 per cent,” she said.
“That really makes a difference for someone who makes a first purchase."
To sweeten the deal, anyone who buys within the first weekend of the sales window will get a gift card to a local restaurant equivalent to an order of avocado toast one day a week for a year.
“I think it's sending the right message,” said realtor Connor Redmond with Motive Marketing Group.
Redmond says the lower down payment and even the toast offer could encourage young homebuyers, but for some it still may not be enough.
“You have to have your down payment but you also have to not owe on cars, you have to have good credit,” Redmond said.
“As much as it's, ‘hey, we will give you your avocado toast,’ it's also, ‘let’s save up.’”
The avocado toast cliché began when a developer named Tim Gurner suggested millennials could become home owners much faster if they stopped buying avocado toast.
Since then it has become a common tool used by marketers targeting young people. In March, for example, Saucony started selling sneakers inspired by avocado toast.
