Presale or resale? The honest comparison.

01 · The short answer

Neither is “better.” A presale suits you if you don’t need the home for two to four years, want a staged deposit instead of one large payment, and value a locked price with a brand-new warranty. A resale suits you if you need to move within months, want to inspect exactly what you’re buying, and prefer to qualify for your mortgage at today’s rates instead of guessing at completion-day rates.

Everything below is the detail behind that answer.

02 · Side by side

Factor	Presale (new construction)	Resale (existing home)
Price	Locked at signing; the building completes 2–4 years later at that price	Today’s market price, negotiable
Deposit	Typically 10–20%, staged over 6–18 months	Deposit on subject removal, balance at completion — usually within 30–60 days
GST	5% at completion; first-time-buyer rebate on new homes under $1M, phasing to $1.5M	None — used residential homes are GST-exempt
Property transfer tax	Newly built home exemption can apply — run the numbers	First-time-buyer exemption only, at lower thresholds
Right to cancel	7 days, any reason, full deposit back (REDMA)	3 business days under BC’s Home Buyer Rescission Period, for a fee of 0.25% of the price
Move-in	2–4 years for concrete; 18–30 months for woodframe	Typically 1–2 months after subject removal
Warranty	Full 2-5-10 new home warranty	Whatever remains — often none on older buildings
What you see	Floor plans, renderings and a display suite	The exact unit, inspected before you commit
Financing	You qualify at completion — future rates and rules unknown	You qualify now, at known rates
Exit before completion	Assignment — developer consent, fees, CRA-visible via CSAIR	Sell any time on the open market

03 · Where presale wins

The staged deposit is the quiet advantage: 10–20% spread over a year or more, while your money keeps working elsewhere. You get a locked price in a rising market, first pick of floor plans, a home nobody has lived in, and the full 2-5-10 warranty. And BC law gives you seven days to walk away with your whole deposit — the strongest cooling-off right in Canadian real estate.

04 · Where resale wins

Certainty. You inspect the actual unit, you know the building’s history and strata minutes, you pay no GST, and you qualify for your mortgage at today’s rates instead of betting on where rates sit in three years. If the market falls between signing and completion, a resale buyer simply paid market price — a presale buyer completes at yesterday’s. That risk is real and I tell every client so.

05 · The honest bottom line

Run the numbers both ways before deciding. The tax calculator shows the GST and transfer-tax gap; the buying guide walks the presale process end to end; and the Presale FAQ answers the fourteen questions buyers actually ask. If you want the comparison run on a specific project against comparable resales — that’s exactly what a 30-minute call is for.