After months of sluggish sales, condos are finally selling at Vancouver's former Olympic athletes' village, with more than half of the re-marketed and re-priced units selling over the opening weekend.
Out of 230 units available for sale at the newly christened Village on False Creek, 128 have sold since Friday. Before it was placed in receivership in November, only 36 condos had sold since the development hit the market in May, despite strong presales of 223 units in 2008.
Marketer Bob Rennie told reporters that the Village has now lost its "ghost town" image.
"The clouds are rolling away," he said. "I think what we brand our company is ‘Ghostbusters.'"
Twenty units priced at more than $1 million sold this weekend, with the most expensive selling for almost $3 million and the cheapest for $329,900. The average selling price was $778,800.
Buyers have seven days to rescind their offers if they change their minds -- Rennie estimates that between four and 10 per cent of buyers typically rescind their offers.
All of the units sold over the weekend went for the asking price. Since Ernst & Young took over as receiver for the development, Rennie and his marketing team have sliced prices drastically, cutting them by an average of 30 per cent.
Rennie credited that move for the heavy sales over the opening weekend.
"I've never had a proximity problem or a product problem, but we did have a pricing problem," he said.
Another 244 waterfront units in the development have been held back from the market -- half were meant to be offered for rent, and the rest would go up for sale at a later date. But Rennie said Tuesday that he would like to hold the rental units so that they can be sold as well.
The marketer was hopeful about what the upswing in sales will mean for the $740-million debt on the development owed to the city.
"Between Bob being happier or the taxpayer, the taxpayer has to feel good that things are moving along properly," Rennie said, referring to himself in the third person.
"We're cautiously optimistic that we have stabilized the asset for the taxpayer."
Real estate experts have estimated that the city stands to lose between $150 million and $170 million on the development.