Jasmine is the latest new development to open its doors in Vancouver. Inside, Michael Pheasey is shopping for a home.
"It just happens to be my daughter's name, so that's the reason why I came by to see it," he says.
He's looking to downsize to a condo but didn't want to gamble on a pre-sale.
"I thought about one that's under construction a little closer to where I live," he says. "It's a hole in the ground so I'm not too crazy about the idea of looking at that."
Considering the recent stall of several major pre-sale condo developments, it's not surprising. Work on the V6A condo project in Vancouver has stalled. And it's not the only one.
Sky Towers in Surrey sold out last fall, but now the project is on hold. Realtor Ray Khan sold pre-sale units in the towers but now he's advising against it.
"Leave the speculation to the risk-takers and not those that are looking for a home for the first time," he says.
The sales director for the Jasmine Development, David Wan, admits things have changed since the days of jam-packed presentation centres and long line-ups.
"The buyers who come in through the door, by and large, they're end-users. They're not the speculators, as it were," says Wan.
"A lot of the people who I think would have been genuine home buyers in the past few years were priced out of the market because of a fair amount of investor and or speculative activity," he says.
While this development is nearly complete, it's still unclear when others will break ground.
"It's true that the companies have no obligation to tell the city their work program," Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan told CTV News on Friday.
Vancouver is looking at whether it can somehow boost protection for buyers. The province has made a similar promise.
Michael Pheasey isn't worried.
"I'm more nervous about selling what I've got right now than buying something new," he says.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber
