From the March issue: During the boom, purchasing a new condo was like buying Manolo Blahniks or an Armani suit: Shopping in an elaborate showroom, buyers wouldn’t dream of offering less than the sticker price.
These days, the showrooms are still around, but the process is more like haggling at a flea market.
Asking prices for new condos — the figures quoted in online listings and in advertisements — now have little to do with the final sale price. While developers are reluctant to lower their official prices, units are selling for anywhere from 5 to 30 percent less than the sticker price, brokers say. That’s a huge change from just a few years ago, when the prices of new condos were considered nonnegotiable.
Developers “are not willing to bring down their asking prices, and some have list prices that have been around since the beginning of the recession,” said Laurielle Noel, a sales and listing specialist for Platinum Properties. “If you come in and start negotiating, they can come down, depending on the situation, 15 to 30 percent. The asking price is not really reflecting what they’re closing at.”
