Glenda Luymes
Province
Builders group advises presale condo-buyers not to panic
The Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association is urging presale condo-buyers not to panic as condominium projects go into receivership.
“The sky is not falling,” Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association president Peter Simpson said yesterday.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s still a very rare occurrence.”
Last week, the Eden Group’s 81-unit Sophia went into receivership, leaving pre-sale buyers wondering what will happen to their investment. The Mount Pleasant condo was about 85-per-cent complete.
It’s at least the sixth presale development to run into problems in recent months.
Last November, the Eden Group cancelled two condo projects before construction began, providing refunds to a small number of presale buyers. And last summer, CB Development’s Riverbend project in Coquitlam was cancelled, with buyers forced to pay market value when another developer was contracted to complete their homes.
Now The Province has learned that in November two projects by the Chandler Development Group were placed in the hands of a receiver. About 250 condos in the H+H building at Homer and Helmcken streets in Vancouver and the Garden City building in Richmond had been presold.
David Bowra, president of the receiver, the Bowra Group, said the Chandler projects will be finished with the “vast majority” of presale buyers getting their homes at the price they paid. The same may not be true for “inside” buyers of about 20 units that were allegedly sold at prices below market value.
Bowra, who is also receiver for the Sophia project, said he didn’t want to speculate on what will happen in that project because court proceedings are under way.
“The market is still fairly strong,” he said.
“I think project management is the main concern in cases like this. I don’t personally think it’s a trend . . . There’s a lot of development out there and these are just a few isolated cases that are basically a function of poor management.”