Six-storey building in central Maple Ridge sold out in two days last Christmas. (Phil Melnychuk/THE NEWS)

Winter time can bring a business slowdown, but not if you’re talking about the housing business in Maple Ridge.

A 35-unit building, composed of one- and two-bedroom suites, planned for McIntosh Avenue in the downtown, sold so quickly that the builders barely had time to use their sales centre across the street.

“It was sold out in two days,” said Lisa Gill, sales manager with HaloStar Development Corp.

“Maple Ridge is just crazy with pre-sales. We went on the market two before Christmas.”

Prices of the suites will be in the mid-$300,000s and most people are buying because they simply want a home. Only seven of the suites will be allowed to be re-assigned, where the first buyer sells his or her interest in the unit before the project is completed in 2019. Others who want to sell have to first complete their purchase, then resell later.

“So we wanted a building full of homeowners. We’re one of the few builders to do that.”

Gill said the company tried to priorize local purchasers. While it’s a condo building, the air conditioning and large balconies make it attractive for families.

“We had a lot of young families.” It also required from purchasers a letter from their banks, saying they were approved for financing.

But climbing condo prices are approaching those of townhouses, which most prefer, she pointed out.

The new project, MC2, is named after the building across the street, which the company also owns and built decades ago, McIntosh Plaza. The new building was built as a legacy project in honour of company founder Wilhelm Gill.

“People know that Maple Ridge is getting re-done. There’s a lot happening down there. Everybody’s starting to come that way. It’s still affordable, but it’s climbing quickly,” said Gill, who added she’s still getting calls about vacancies.

A few blocks away on Edge Street, Edge 1 is already being lived in, while kitty corner to that building on Edge and Brown Avenue, Edge 2, which has 73 units, is almost complete. That took about five months to sell out, a process which ended last April, said David Webster, with MacLean Homes in West Vancouver.

Units sold then for $250,000, but now will sell for $300,000.

There is also Edge 3, which is now is at council for approval stage. That will be a five-storey building located next to Edge 2 and will feature two-level suites on the top floor.

“The Maple Ridge market is going crazy now,” Webster said.

He said his company also focuses on the homeowner market instead of investor purchasers who want to rent out suites.

As a result, it takes longer, when people are actually moving in, to sell out a building. Webster said he’d like to do more projects but finding the property is difficult.

Webster also said most of the buyers were from the Metro Vancouver area. Many people are moving from Coquitlam or Port Coquitlam while seniors like the location with shops nearby.

Last August, the first building in Falcon Homes Brickwater Village on Selkirk Avenue and 227th Street also sold out in a few days. That building is currently under construction with completion by early 2019.

Condo prices jumped by more than 20 per cent last year.

In the meantime, the company has taken names for those who want to put down deposits for the second of the four buildings planned for Brickwater Village. That building will have one- two- and three-bedroom suites.

“We have actually over 1,000 registrants,” said sales manager Nicole Buckle.

“The phone rings non-stop, e-mails daily, people anxiously awaiting this release.” The process requires putting down a 10-per-cent deposit and starts this spring with the second building, six storeys, due for complete construction by early 2020.

She also added that most of the buyers are local and with a one-bedroom condo selling in the mid $300,000s.

She doubted that any of the buyers in Phase 1 will want to re-assign or sell their purchasing contract to another buyer, saying that most buyers just want a place to live.

The cost of single family homes has climbed so much that people have to buy condos. “There’s lack of supply. That’s what’s really driving more of the demand up right now.”

Buckle doubts that the recent steps in the provincial budget towards housing, would have any effect on buyers, adding that house prices are the main factor determining behaviour and said the municipal approval system is working well.