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When the Vancouver real-estate market was hot, presale condo buyers lined up overnight to snap up units at new projects and many people could profit by selling their contract on to another buyer.

Now, it appears some presale condo buyers are willing to sell their unit at a loss rather than complete the sale.

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The sales information for a 1,350-square-foot unit at Wall Financial Corp’s Shannon Mews project on Granville Street, for example, says the original presale contract price was $1.699 million and the current asking price for an assignment of that contract is the same.

It’s not known when the original deal happened, but the developer started offering presales in early 2016 as the market was heating up. The asking price suggests the owner would rather lose on the investment than come up with the money or financing to complete the sale with the developer in the next few weeks.

The seller seems willing to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars — considering the transfer fee, realtor commissions and any negotiations with a buyer — to avoid having to complete the purchase of the condo, said Sutton Group West Coast agent Ian Watt.