Q Condos (20 Queen St N) | 34 fl | Proposed

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

Looks like a realtor was having an open house for this project today. I wonder why this one didn't sell so easily.

How are you actually so clueless that you don't know the answer to that question??

[ijmorlan]

Looks like a realtor was having an open house for this project today. I wonder why this one didn't sell so easily.

How are you actually so clueless that you don't know the answer to that question??

Add me to the clueless list. It’s not obvious to me; maybe it would be if I read and recalled every detail of the discussion, but all I see is someone ragging on ac3r for no apparent reason.

[CP42]

I would guess the zero parking had an impact. But otherwise, it seems like it might have just been bad timing because it was cheaper than TEK Tower which sold out somehow. 

The only other high rise that sold and moved to construction in downtown in the same time sales for this were ongoing is Station Park DUO (tower 3).

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

I would guess the zero parking had an impact. But otherwise, it seems like it might have just been bad timing because it was cheaper than TEK Tower which sold out somehow. 

The only other high rise that sold and moved to construction in downtown in the same time sales for this were ongoing is Station Park DUO (tower 3).

TEK was a couple months earlier, which was enough to get the peak of the market. 

Rising costs and interest rates have significantly reduced buyer demand. Q, Strata, Station Park have all had similarly slow sales. 

Difference is VanMar is spec building DUO

[CP42]

I would guess the zero parking had an impact. But otherwise, it seems like it might have just been bad timing because it was cheaper than TEK Tower which sold out somehow. 

The only other high rise that sold and moved to construction in downtown in the same time sales for this were ongoing is Station Park DUO (tower 3).

TEK was a couple months earlier, which was enough to get the peak of the market. 

Rising costs and interest rates have significantly reduced buyer demand. Q, Strata, Station Park have all had similarly slow sales. 

Difference is VanMar is spec building DUO

What does spec building mean? If you mean building before selling all of the units, isn’t this the case for most projects to get underway prior to being 100% sold? (Aside from 2019 or so when they’d sellout in days)

[ZEBuilder]

TEK was a couple months earlier, which was enough to get the peak of the market. 

Rising costs and interest rates have significantly reduced buyer demand. Q, Strata, Station Park have all had similarly slow sales. 

Difference is VanMar is spec building DUO

What does spec building mean?

Spec building is just the developer building on speculation, a lot of the time that is how office developments are built, the developer will build the building purely speculating that the market will require more office space, likewise in residential it just means that all the units haven't been sold yet so they are building it speculatively expecting future demand to require it.

[CP42]

What does spec building mean?

Spec building is just the developer building on speculation, a lot of the time that is how office developments are built, the developer will build the building purely speculating that the market will require more office space, likewise in residential it just means that all the units haven't been sold yet so they are building it speculatively expecting future demand to require it.

Is that uncommon in today’s market? I thought I read recently that most projects want to achieve around 70-80% of sales prior to beginning construction.

[ac3r]

Looks like a realtor was having an open house for this project today. I wonder why this one didn't sell so easily.

How are you actually so clueless that you don't know the answer to that question??

Well I make buildings, I don't sell them. I don't pay any attention to that part of it so I don't follow that stuff.

[nms]

Given that there are over 200 posts in this thread, I lost track of what the actual building and units will be like. My guess for the reason it's not selling well enough are:
1. Complete lack of parking which means added future costs for the new owners who need to rent from the City lot next door.
2. Unit sizes that don't fit with what people are looking for
3. Unit layouts that don't fit with what people are looking for
4. Interest rates high enough to weed out investment buyers who are hoping to rent their unit out at a price that will cover the mortgage.

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

Spec building is just the developer building on speculation, a lot of the time that is how office developments are built, the developer will build the building purely speculating that the market will require more office space, likewise in residential it just means that all the units haven't been sold yet so they are building it speculatively expecting future demand to require it.

Is that uncommon in today’s market? I thought I read recently that most projects want to achieve around 70-80% of sales prior to beginning construction.

80% is fairly common but that amount covers construction debt so less 'speculative' I'd call it building on spec when you're only <50% sold

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

Given that there are over 200 posts in this thread, I lost track of what the actual building and units will be like.  My guess for the reason it's not selling well enough are:
1. Complete lack of parking which means added future costs for the new owners who need to rent from the City lot next door.
2. Unit sizes that don't fit with what people are looking for
3. Unit layouts that don't fit with what people are looking for
4. Interest rates high enough to weed out investment buyers who are hoping to rent their unit out at a price that will cover the mortgage.

It's really only #4/investors in general since they were the only buyers willing to buy early and wait years for completion. Every project is having slow sales regardless of unit details and such. When we looked at Q the parking actual works out to be much cheaper than buying a spot as you can rent from the City next door, plus saves loads on condo fees to maintain the garage

[CP42]

Is that uncommon in today’s market? I thought I read recently that most projects want to achieve around 70-80% of sales prior to beginning construction.

80% is fairly common but that amount covers construction debt so less 'speculative' I'd call it building on spec when you're only <50% sold

So you believe VanMar has sold less than 50% of the units for DUO? I feel like I saw them advertising like crazy and then once construction started I haven’t seen a thing.

[tomh009]

Is that uncommon in today’s market? I thought I read recently that most projects want to achieve around 70-80% of sales prior to beginning construction.

80% is fairly common but that amount covers construction debt so less 'speculative' I'd call it building on spec when you're only <50% sold

Deposits on 80% of the units is not enough to cover construction costs. However, it's enough to get less expensive construction financing as the bank will know that 80% of the units will close once construction is complete.

[KaiserWilhelmsBust]

80% is fairly common but that amount covers construction debt so less 'speculative' I'd call it building on spec when you're only <50% sold

Deposits on 80% of the units is not enough to cover construction costs. However, it's enough to get less expensive construction financing as the bank will know that 80% of the units will close once construction is complete.

Yes. "cover construction costs" means the contracted sale price. So if you don't sell a single additional unit, when building completes there is still enough to pay back loan