Vancouver condo price drop leads to lawsuits and big discounts
Developers slash prices for some buyers while suing others who try to back out of deals
VANCOUVER — The number of developers suing pre-sale condo buyers for attempting to back out of their contracts is mounting in the fallout from British Columbia’s slumping real estate market.
At least six developers have filed a combined 74 suits in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver against buyers, claiming breach of contract for failing to complete their purchases for condominium units which, in many cases, are no longer worth the prices established in original contracts.
Amacon is one of the developers suing some 16 pre-sale buyers attempting to back out of their contracts in its now-complete Morgan Heights project in south Surrey.
The lawsuits are a sign of the tensions that arise when real estate markets turn from upturn to downturn, Tsur Somerville, director of urban economics and real estate in the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., said in an interview.
However, on Tuesday, Amacon announced it is slashing prices on a signature downtown Vancouver building where construction has not yet started.
Amacon said it is cutting prices in The Beasley project by 22 per cent, some $100,000 to $250,000 and more per unit, based on reductions in construction costs for both pre-sale buyers who signed higher-priced contracts last spring and bidders for 70 to 80 unsold units it will release to the public in early April.
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Seems pretty fair that they are cutting the prices to folks already in contract as well! That being said, does a contract mean anything anymore?
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