Homebuyers buy into developer buy-down program

One developer’s rate-buydown promotion resulted in hundreds of sales in mere minutes; are we bound to see more of these promotions?

With a new incentive model proving lucrative for one Canadian developer, are we bound to see more rate buy-downs from development companies?

“We are very happy with today’s dramatic sales result,” Brian Regehr, President of WestStone Properties, the developer of the 35-storey Evolve condo tower said in an official release. “This is the culmination of two years’ work, which began with architecturally market-matching the floor plans with the intended buyer groups, creating an international marketing program and bringing together their skilled team of professionals that catered to every customer’s need.”

300 homes were sold within an hour-and-a-half window on the first day of sales, with over 2,000 people attending the launch with the hopes of scooping up one of the units on offer.

WestStone Group -- in partnership with Platinum Project Marketing -- held a special promotion for the first 200 buyers of its Evolve development in Surrey, B.C., offering certain condos for as little as $365 for the first year through its $1 per day mortgage buy-down. The offer was open to all qualifying mortgage holders, regardless of which lender their mortgage is with.

The cost was covered by the developer, meaning broker compensation was not affected.

“These kinds of promotions have to be open to everyone or they just don’t work; we make no bones about which lenders clients go to,” Vince Taylor, partner with Platinum Project Marketing told MortgageBrokerNews.ca in late March. “Every client is free to use whoever they want.”

The promotion was available for every unit, with a tiered cost structure that offered certain units for $1-$12 per day, depending on the unit size.
Units start at $93,900, and range in size from 316 to 1,294 square feet.