RIO DE JANEIRO — Home buyers in Rio de Janeiro used to get into intense bidding wars as they tried to secure even a modest apartment in one of the city’s exclusive beachfront districts. Not anymore.
Developers in Brazil’s second-largest city are now scrambling for ways to unload apartments, offering enticements like paying maintenance fees for years, slashing payments by 50 percent and giving away trips to New York. Others are even offering new compact cars and appliances to potential buyers.
Tumbling from its perch as one of the world’s costliest property markets, Rio is now struggling with its largest real estate glut in decades, raising fears of a crash as dozens of lavish new high-rises built in anticipation of the 2016 Olympic Games fail to attract buyers.