Understanding Completion Risk with Presale Condos in Vancouver

Presale condos in Vancouver have long been marketed as a way to “lock in today’s price for tomorrow’s home.” But while presales can offer flexibility and opportunity, they also carry unique risks, especially when it comes time to complete. Many buyers assume that if they cannot close, the worst case is losing their deposit. The reality is more serious. Developers have legal rights to pursue damages, and in a falling market, those damages can be significant.

What is Completion Risk?

Completion risk refers to the possibility that you will not be able to finalize (or “complete”) the purchase of your presale condo when the building is finished and title transfers. Common reasons buyers fail to complete include:

• Not qualifying for a mortgage under stricter lending rules
• Changes in financial situation (job loss, income reduction, higher debt)
• Market conditions shifting, making the purchase less attractive
• Interest rates rising, leading to higher monthly payments

Why It’s More Than Just Your Deposit

A common misconception is that walking away from a presale means you simply forfeit your deposit. In British Columbia, most presale contracts allow developers to do much more:

• The developer can resell your unit on the open market.
• If they achieve a lower price than your original contract, they can pursue you for the difference.
• They can also claim additional costs, such as legal fees, marketing expenses, and carrying costs until the unit sells.

Example: When Prices Fall

Imagine you signed a presale contract for a condo in Burnaby in 2022 at $850,000, paying a 15 percent deposit of $127,500.

By 2025, market conditions shift, and comparable condos are reselling at $780,000. You cannot qualify for financing and fail to complete.

• The developer resells your unit for $780,000
• The shortfall compared to your contract is $70,000
• The developer may come after you not just for your deposit but also for the $70,000 loss plus costs

This means you could lose your deposit and still owe damages, leaving you financially exposed.

Why Developers Pursue Damages

Developers are businesses with lenders and investors to answer to. If dozens of buyers default in a slowing market, the financial impact is massive. Pursuing damages is a way to recover losses and maintain project stability.

In fact, in past market downturns in Vancouver, there have been legal cases where buyers were held responsible for hundreds of thousands in damages after failing to complete.

How Buyers Can Reduce Completion Risk

• Get pre-approved and stress test early: Do not assume today’s financing will be available at completion.
• Consider future interest rates: Mortgage rates in 2025 may be higher than when you signed.
• Be realistic about your finances: If the deposit feels like a stretch, completing will feel even harder.
• Work with experienced advisors: Realtors, lawyers, and mortgage brokers who specialize in presales can help you navigate risks.

Completion Risk in Today’s Market

In 2025, with Vancouver presale condos often priced above resale equivalents, completion risk feels higher than in past years. Buyers are locking in at ambitious pricing, betting the market will rise. If it does not, they could be left exposed.

The Bottom Line

Presale condos in Vancouver can still be a smart investment, but buyers must understand the risks. Failing to complete is not just about losing your deposit. It can mean being on the hook for large financial damages if the market shifts.

The best protection is to do your homework, know your numbers, and plan for different scenarios before signing.

How Much GST Do You Pay on a New Condo in BC?

Buying a new or presale condo in British Columbia comes with an extra cost that often surprises buyers, the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). At 5 percent of the purchase price, GST can add tens of thousands of dollars to the total cost of your home. In a province that is already the most expensive housing market in Canada, this tax makes affordability even tougher.

But recent changes have introduced new exemptions for first time buyers, though with important limits. Here is what you need to know about GST on new condos in BC in 2025.

The Basics: GST on New Homes

• Amount: GST is charged at 5 percent of the purchase price on all new and presale condos.
• Example: On an $800,000 presale condo in Burnaby, GST adds an extra $40,000 to the price.
• When it applies: GST is due at completion, when the unit is registered in your name.

This makes new condos significantly more expensive than resales, since resale homes are exempt from GST (the tax was already paid when the property was first sold).

The New GST Exemption for First Time Buyers

In 2025, the federal government introduced a targeted GST exemption for first time homebuyers purchasing new housing. On paper, this looks like a game changer. But here are the details:

• The exemption only applies up to a set purchase price threshold (for example, homes up to $600,000 may qualify).
• Once the home price exceeds the threshold, the exemption phases out quickly.
• In Metro Vancouver, where the average new condo is often $750,000 to $900,000 or higher, many buyers are priced out of the benefit.

This means while the exemption helps in smaller markets across Canada, it has limited impact in BC, where even entry level condos often exceed the cutoff.

Why BC Feels the Heaviest Impact

BC is the most expensive province for real estate, with Vancouver leading the country in both presale and resale pricing. Because the GST is a fixed 5 percent tax, the absolute dollar amount buyers pay here is far higher than in other provinces.

• A new condo in Vancouver priced at $900,000 = $45,000 GST
• A new condo in Calgary priced at $400,000 = $20,000 GST

Same tax rate, very different financial hit.

Can You Avoid GST on a New Condo?

There are a few scenarios where GST may not apply:

• Resale units: If you buy a condo that is not brand new, GST is not charged.
• Assignments: Depending on how the contract is structured, assignments can sometimes reduce the GST impact, but buyers should review carefully with an accountant.
• Rebates: If you live in the home as your primary residence, you may qualify for a partial GST rebate, though again, higher priced homes in Vancouver often exceed the eligibility range.

What Buyers Should Watch For

• Always budget for GST in addition to the purchase price, do not assume it is included.
• Ask the developer or your realtor to clarify whether listed prices are “plus GST” or “GST included.”
• Factor in closing costs such as legal fees, property transfer tax, and GST when planning your total budget.

The Bottom Line

In British Columbia, GST adds a significant extra cost to buying a new or pre sale condo. While the new first time homebuyer exemption offers relief on paper, most Metro Vancouver condos are priced too high to qualify. For buyers here, the GST remains a major consideration, and one reason why resale condos continue to look attractive compared to presales.

Top Vancouver Developers for Presale Projects: Who Has the Best Reputation?

When you buy a presale condo or townhome in Vancouver, you are not buying a home. You are buying a promise that a home will exist in three to five years, built the way the disclosure statement says it will be built. The developer behind that promise matters as much as the location or the floor plan, and arguably more than either, because you can change your mind about a neighbourhood, but you cannot change who pours your foundation.

The short answer

The Vancouver presale developers with the strongest reputations in 2026 are Concord Pacific, Bosa Properties, Anthem Properties, Wesgroup Properties, Polygon Homes, Mosaic Homes, Concert Properties, Marcon, Ledingham McAllister and Boffo Developments. They are not interchangeable. Concord, Anthem and Concert build at scale; Polygon and Mosaic build wood-frame townhomes and low-rises; Boffo builds small and builds it carefully; Marcon spans both ends; and Bosa, Wesgroup and Ledingham McAllister sit in between. The right question is not “who is the best developer in Vancouver” but “who is the best developer for the kind of home I am buying.”

Why reputation matters more in presale than anywhere else

In resale, you walk the unit. You bring an inspector. You read the strata minutes and the depreciation report before you remove subjects. In presale, you get a scale model, a set of renderings, and a disclosure statement. Everything else is trust, and trust has to be earned somewhere other than the sales centre.

Four things are actually being tested when you buy from a developer:

• Delivery. Did previous buildings complete near the estimated completion date, or did the date slide by two years while buyers paid rent and carried a rate hold that expired? Slippage of six to twelve months is normal in Metro Vancouver. Slippage of three years is a pattern.
• Construction quality. Not the countertops. The envelope. Windows, membranes, balconies, plumbing stacks, parkade drainage. The finishes are what you see at the orientation. The envelope is what shows up as a special assessment in year eight.
• Customer care after closing. Every building has deficiencies. What separates developers is what happens after the keys change hands: whether the warranty team answers, whether the deficiency list gets closed out, whether anyone comes back at the one-year mark.
• Financial depth. Can the company absorb a slow sales cycle, a construction cost spike, or a lender pulling back, without cancelling the project and returning your deposit at a price point you can no longer buy back into? This is the risk buyers underrate most, and it is the one that has actually bitten Metro Vancouver presale buyers in the last few years.

How I judge a developer

I have represented buyers through 20 presale launches since 2014, working directly with six developers (Bosa, Wesgroup, Aragon, Anthem, Quantum and Foster Living) across the River District, New Westminster, Port Moody, Burquitlam, Brentwood, Metrotown, Fleetwood and Surrey City Centre. That means I have seen the same companies at three different points in the cycle: the launch, the completion, and the phone call two years later when something has gone wrong.

What I have learned is that the sales-centre experience tells you almost nothing. The orientation and the year that follows tell you everything. So the developers below are ranked less on brand recognition than on how they behave once the money is already collected.

To see which developers have new rezoning and development applications on file, see my development tracker. For the six developers I’ve launched projects with, see my track record.

The developers I rate most highly in 2026

Concord Pacific

The developer that built modern Vancouver’s skyline. Concord Pacific Place reshaped False Creek North, and Concord Brentwood has done something similar in Burnaby. Their model is the master-planned community: multiple towers, phased over a decade, with amenity buildings, pools, clubhouses and sports courts, that few competitors will fund.

Best for: buyers who want amenity depth, a recognizable address, and a company with the balance sheet to finish what it starts.
Watch for: standardized interiors and long phasing. If you buy into phase four of a master plan, you may live beside an active construction site for years. Ask which phase you are in and what is scheduled next door.

Bosa Properties

Decades in this market and a reputation for building things that hold up. Bosa buildings tend to be well located, sensibly laid out, and they hold resale value, which is the market’s own long-run verdict on construction quality. I represented buyers at RiverSky 2 in New Westminster in 2014 and the product delivered as sold.

One thing most buyers do not know: “Bosa” is a family name attached to several separate companies in this market. Bosa Properties, Bosa Development, BlueSky Properties and Embassy Bosa are not the same organization and do not share a track record. Before you assume a reputation transfers, read the developer entity named on the disclosure statement, not the name on the hoarding.

Best for: buyers prioritizing durability and resale over novelty.
Watch for: confirming which Bosa entity you are actually buying from.

Anthem Properties

The developer I have worked with most. I have represented buyers at Station Square in Metrotown, Wood & Water in Fleetwood, Jinju in Burquitlam, Georgetown II in Surrey City Centre, Southyards in Brentwood, and Citizen and Ethos in Metrotown. That is seven launches with one company, which gives me an unusually direct read on them.

Anthem is a master-planner with real architectural ambition. They are willing to spend on massing and public realm rather than maximizing every square foot. Their sales and contract administration is organized, which matters more than it sounds when you are assigning a contract or processing an amendment.

Best for: buyers in the Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey growth corridors who want design-led towers in transit-oriented locations.
Watch for: the same phasing question as Concord. In a multi-tower community, know what is being built beside you and when.

Wesgroup Properties

Family-owned, and it shows in the time horizon. Wesgroup is not building towers. It is building neighbourhoods, most visibly the River District in South Vancouver and the Brewery District in New Westminster. I represented buyers across eight of their River District launches between 2014 and 2017: Town Centre 1, 2 and 3, Quartet, Avalon Park 1, 2 and 3, and Mode.

Watching one community come together over a decade is the clearest evidence I have of a developer keeping its word. The shops, the park space and the school talk that appeared in the 2014 renderings largely arrived. That is rarer than it should be.

Best for: buyers with a long hold who are betting on a neighbourhood, not just a building.
Watch for: early-phase buyers carry the risk that later amenities take longer than promised. Buy the phase, not the master plan render.

Polygon Homes

More than forty years in Greater Vancouver and probably the most predictable builder on this list, which in presale is a compliment. Polygon is strongest in townhouse communities and wood-frame low-rise and mid-rise in Richmond, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and North Vancouver. The designs are conservative and family-oriented, the layouts are efficient, and the product arrives roughly as advertised.

Best for: first-time buyers and families buying townhomes in the suburbs.
Watch for: if you want architectural distinction or a boutique feel, this is not that. You are buying reliability.

Mosaic Homes

Mosaic has something no marketing budget can buy: a genuine following. Buyers wait for their releases. Owners recommend them unprompted. For a developer that builds mostly wood-frame townhomes and low-rise homes rather than landmark towers, that level of loyalty is unusual, and it is earned in two places.

The first is design discipline. Mosaic has a consistent architectural point of view, all brick, timber and traditional proportions given a contemporary treatment, and they hold that line across communities in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, North Vancouver and east Vancouver. Their homes age well because they were not chasing a trend in the first place.

The second is the part almost nobody outside the industry sees: their homeowner care team. I am a detail-oriented agent. I go into orientations expecting to be the person in the room finding things. At a Mosaic orientation, their team was already on the floor ahead of me, examining the home almost under a microscope, catching items my clients and I had not flagged yet, writing them down without being asked to. My clients walked out of that appointment feeling looked after rather than braced for a fight. In presale, that feeling is the entire product.

Deficiency walkthroughs are where a developer’s real culture shows. Most companies treat the orientation as a liability exercise: the shortest possible list, signed as fast as possible. Mosaic treats it as the last chance to get the home right. That is the difference between a builder and a company that expects you to tell your friends.

Best for: buyers who want a townhome or low-rise home with real design identity and want the post-completion experience handled properly.
Watch for: limited supply and strong demand. Their releases move quickly, and they are not building high-rise concrete, so if you need a downtown tower they are not the answer.

Concert Properties

Concert is the most structurally unusual company on this list, and that structure is exactly why it belongs here. It was founded in 1989 and it is owned by union and management pension plans. The people who ultimately own the company are the same tradespeople and staff whose pensions depend on it still being solvent in thirty years.

That ownership changes the incentives in a way buyers feel. Concert builds and then frequently holds, particularly rental and seniors housing under its Tapestry brand, rather than building, selling and walking away. A developer that still owns the building in year fifteen makes different decisions about the building envelope in year one.

Best for: buyers who weight financial stability and long-term stewardship above all else, and who like knowing the developer is not structured to disappear after completion.
Watch for: a portfolio spread across rental, commercial and seniors housing means condo releases are less frequent, so there may simply be nothing available when you are ready to buy.

Boffo Developments

A family-run developer working at deliberately small scale, mostly in Burnaby and east Vancouver. Boffo builds few projects, and the ones they build are finished to a standard that is hard to find at this size. Their reputation is for amenity quality and material choices that punch well above what a boutique project budget usually allows.

The advantage of a small family builder is accountability. There is no layer between you and the people whose name is on the building, and they have to live in the same city as the owners of everything they have built. The trade-off is capacity: a small company has less balance sheet to absorb a bad cycle than Concord or Concert does.

Best for: buyers who want craft and a boutique building rather than a tower with 400 neighbours.
Watch for: very limited release volume, and the usual smaller-developer question about depth of capital. Ask how the project is financed.

Marcon

Marcon is family owned, has been working in Metro Vancouver for around four decades, and came up through construction before it came up through development. That order matters. A company that started by building other people’s projects tends to have a sharper internal view of what a wall assembly costs and where a schedule actually slips.

They began in wood-frame housing and have moved steadily into concrete towers, which means their range now covers townhomes, low-rise and high-rise across Burnaby, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Surrey and Vancouver. Their delivery record is steady rather than dramatic, which is what you want.

Best for: buyers who want a builder mentality rather than a marketing one, and who like that the same company covers both townhomes and towers.
Watch for: less brand recognition than Concord or Polygon, so resale buyers may not know the name the way you now do. Judge the specific building, not the logo.

Ledingham McAllister

The oldest name on this list by a wide margin. Ledingham McAllister has been developing in British Columbia for more than a century, which is a track record no marketing department can manufacture. A company does not survive that many housing cycles by being reckless with capital.

The product reflects it. Their buildings are conservative, well located and unflashy, concentrated in Burnaby, New Westminster, the Tri-Cities and Surrey. You are not buying an architectural statement. You are buying a company that has completed buildings through recessions that ended other developers, which is the single most useful thing a presale buyer can know.

Best for: risk-averse buyers, and anyone who has watched a project stall and does not want to repeat the experience.
Watch for: conservative design and conservative amenity packages. If you want distinctive, look elsewhere. If you want delivered, this is the profile.

Other names worth knowing

• Beedie Living: strong in Burnaby and Coquitlam, generally higher-end finishes, backed by one of BC’s largest industrial developers.
• Townline: smaller than Concord or Bosa, but respected for boutique projects and for treating heritage and character sites seriously.
• Aragon Properties: character-driven, architecturally distinct low-rise and mid-rise. I represented buyers at Platform in Port Moody and Amber in Douglas Park, Vancouver.

Quick comparison

How to check a developer yourself, in about an hour

You do not need an agent to do most of this. You just need to know where to look.

1. Search the BC New Home Registry. BC Housing maintains a public registry of licensed residential builders and the new homes they have enrolled. It tells you who is actually licensed, what they have built, and whether the licence has conditions on it.
2. Confirm the 2-5-10 home warranty. New homes in BC carry third-party warranty insurance: two years on labour and materials, five years on the building envelope, ten years on structure. Ask which warranty provider is behind the project. The provider, not just the developer, is who you will be dealing with if something structural goes wrong.
3. Read the disclosure statement, then read the amendments. Under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act the developer must give you a disclosure statement, and must amend it when material facts change. The amendments are where the story is: shrinking amenities, moved completion dates, changed parking. You have a seven-day rescission period after receiving it and signing. Use those days.
4. Pull strata minutes and depreciation reports from their older buildings. Find a building the same developer completed six to ten years ago and read two years of minutes. Recurring envelope repairs, elevator failures, plumbing leaks or an early special assessment are the truest review you will ever get.
5. Go stand in a completed building. Walk the lobby, the corridors, the parkade. Look at how the exterior has weathered. Fifteen minutes in a five-year-old building of theirs is worth more than an afternoon in the presentation centre.
6. Ask about the warranty team specifically. Not the sales team. The customer care team. Who are they, how do you reach them after closing, and what happens at the one-year mark? A developer proud of that department will answer immediately.

Red flags worth pausing on

• A developer entity with no completed projects and no parent company standing behind it.
• A completion date given as a wide window with no outside date you can hold them to.
• Pressure to sign before you have had the disclosure statement long enough to read it properly.
• Amendments that quietly reduce what was sold: amenity space, storage, parking, ceiling heights.
• Vague answers about deposit protection. In BC your deposits are held in trust; you should be told exactly where.

Questions buyers ask me

Does a big-name developer mean a better investment?

Not automatically. A strong developer reduces your delivery and quality risk, which is real value. But your return still comes mostly from what you paid, the location, and the unit itself. A well-priced home from a solid mid-size builder often beats an overpriced home from a famous one.

What actually happens if a presale project gets cancelled?

Your deposit is returned from trust, usually with interest under the terms of your contract. The loss is not the deposit. It is the years of price appreciation you missed and the fact that you now have to buy back into a market that moved without you. That is why financial depth belongs on the reputation checklist, not just build quality.

Are concrete buildings always better than wood-frame?

Concrete generally means better sound separation and longer structural life, and it usually costs more per square foot. But a well-built wood-frame townhome from a careful builder will outperform a poorly built concrete tower every time. Builder quality beats construction type more often than buyers expect.

How much do delays really cost me?

More than people budget for. A twelve-month delay can mean another year of rent, an expired mortgage rate hold, a re-qualification at different rates, and a moving timeline that no longer matches a school year or a lease. Ask every developer for their actual delivery history against original estimated completion dates.

The bottom line

Vancouver is fortunate to have several developers with genuine, earned reputations: Concord Pacific, Bosa, Anthem, Wesgroup, Polygon, Mosaic, Concert, Marcon, Ledingham McAllister and Boffo each do something well, and each suits a different buyer. What they share is financial depth, experience, and a track record you can go and physically inspect.

Choosing a presale is not really about the home in the render. It is about who you are trusting with three to five years of your life and a deposit you cannot easily get back. Research the history, read the amendments, visit their completed buildings, and ask hard questions about what happens after you get the keys. As Mosaic’s orientation team demonstrates, the developers worth buying from are the ones still paying attention when the selling is over.

If you want a read on a specific developer or project before you sign, that is the part of my job I like most. I have sat across the table from most of these companies. Get in touch and I will tell you what I have actually seen.

Last reviewed and updated September 2026 by Jacky Ng, Licensed Real Estate Advisor, RE/MAX Crest Realty. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Always review a disclosure statement with your own lawyer or notary.

Average Deposit Structures for Presale Condos in Burnaby Explained

When it comes to buying a presale condo in Burnaby, one of the first questions buyers ask is, “How much do I need for the deposit?” The deposit structure can make or break a deal, especially for first time buyers and investors. In 2025, developers are offering more flexibility than ever, but the numbers still vary widely depending on the project, location, and demand.

Here is a breakdown of what you can expect if you are considering a Burnaby presale condo this year.

The Standard Deposit Structure

Traditionally, Burnaby presale condos required 20 percent down before completion. This is usually broken into smaller payments, spread across the construction timeline. A common schedule looks like this:

• First deposit: 5 percent at the time of writing the contract
• Second deposit: 5 percent within 30 to 90 days
• Third deposit: 5 percent at 6 to 12 months
• Final deposit: 5 percent at 12 to 18 months or when construction reaches a major milestone

By the time the building completes in 2 to 4 years, buyers will have paid the full 20 percent.

More Flexible Options in 2025

With sales velocity slowing compared to previous years, many Burnaby developers are offering reduced deposit structures to attract buyers. Some recent projects in Brentwood and Metrotown have launched with just 10 percent total deposit, split into:

• 5 percent at contract signing
• 5 percent within 6 to 12 months

This lighter schedule can make presales more accessible to first time buyers who need more time to build savings.

Extended Deposit Timelines

Another trend is extended deposit deadlines. Instead of requiring the entire 20 percent within a year, developers may stretch payments across two or even three years. This strategy has become common in larger master planned communities in Burnaby, where developers want to keep pricing competitive while still moving inventory.

Incentives and Promotions

On top of reduced deposits, some developers are layering incentives like:

• Credit back at completion for early buyers
• Decorating allowances or upgrades in lieu of higher deposits
• Locking in deposit schedules as low as 5 percent for a limited number of homes

These strategies are becoming more frequent in 2025 as developers compete not only with other presales but also with attractive resale options nearby.

Risks to Consider

Lower deposits sound appealing, but they also come with considerations:

• Commitment: Once you sign, deposits are non refundable except under specific circumstances outlined in the disclosure statement.
• Market changes: If values soften before completion, you are still obligated to complete.
• Financing approval: You may qualify for a mortgage today, but final approval happens at completion, which could be years away.

Local Example: Brentwood vs Metrotown

In Brentwood, a recent tower launch offered a 15 percent deposit spread over 18 months. In Metrotown, a competing project attracted attention by offering just 10 percent total, with no additional payments until construction reached a certain stage. These competitive structures highlight how Burnaby developers are adjusting to current market conditions.

The Bottom Line

Deposit structures for Burnaby presale condos have become more flexible in 2025, but the standard still hovers around 15 to 20 percent. Buyers should pay close attention to the timing of payments, total deposit required, and what incentives are being offered.

For some, a lighter deposit schedule makes presales a smart entry point into the Vancouver real estate market. For others, resale condos may still offer more certainty and less risk.