Given recent news, this is probably a good idea. Though it seems to me that developers need to get past the gimmicks and just start pricing their product for the 2009 market.

Depending on how you define “free”, this gimmick is up to 7.5% off the price of a unit. That’s a back of the envelope calculation based on this penthouse unit and the StreetEasy’s mortgage calculator. If “free” doesn’t include common charges, taxes, PMI and the like, the “discount” drops to around 5%.

If you’re in the market for a fabulous three-bedroom waterfront penthouse, I’d suggest offering 10% or 20% below ask and foregoing the “free” year.