£50,000 of jet travel if you buy £1m flat

Docklands property developers are offering up to £50,000 worth of private jet and limousine travel to lure buyers.

For that you would have to buy a flat for at least £1million - or one of seven penthouses for up to £2.95million - at Canary Riverside.

Inducements in the form of cash, holidays and cars are a sure sign of a housing market in serious trouble. Last month, £10,000 holidays in Barbados were offered to buyers of flats at St George Wharf in Vauxhall.

With the price of homes costing more than £500,000 falling by five to 10 per cent, it can become cost-effective to offer incentives.

Martin Tan of Canary Riverside told The Times the jet and car deal would be invaluable to some clients, adding: "We can offer our buyers more of the one thing they can't buy - time."

The developers' problem is that a glut of multi-million pound penthouses comes just as City bonuses have dried up.

Developers are also competing for buyers by offering glamorous designer interiors.

One of the Canary Riverside penthouses has a rotating bed and another boasts a glass bath.

But housing economist John Wriglesworth, of property price monitors Hometrack, said prices of upmarket developments will continue to fall this year.