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At that time, prices started at $400,000 for a 450-square-foot unit, or about $890 a square foot. By early 2016, all 354 of the units were pre-sold. Since then, condo prices have rocketed and the per-square-foot cost of a similar unit would be about $1,250, an increase of about 40 per cent, according to realtors.

In the past few weeks, Reliance has been telling buyers who want to sell their rights to a completed condo before the units are completed that they have to sign a “modified” agreement. It stipulates that instead of paying the developer 1.5 per cent of the initial purchase price to get permission for an assignment sale, they have to pay 25 per cent of the profit made on the assignment.

To illustrate with random numbers: If, in the past, if Buyer A bought a pre-sale condo for $500,000, he or she could assign it to Buyer B for $600,000 by paying the developer 1.5 per cent of $500,000, or $7,500. Now, the developer is charging 25 per cent of the $100,000 profit, or $25,000.

The change is designed to discourage speculation, says Jon Stovell, president of Reliance Properties.

“There has already been a regulatory shift in the single-family market where it is automatic in all contracts that if there is any ‘assignment lift’ the proceeds will go back to the homeowner,” says Stovell, referring to the Real Estate Council’s new rules in May 2016 about the re-assigning of single-family homes before the sale is registered.

In recent months, Stovell says there has been a rapid increase in requests by buyers to re-assign pre-sale condo units at One Burrard. As well, there have been reports of “unauthorized advertising of (One Burrard) assignments” online, in particular on private realtor websites and through emails and social media.