Marketers in Metro Vancouver’s skittish condo sector are rolling out novel sales techniques and technology to convince buyers to commit to investing in developments.
Rivals Pilothouse and TheKey both launched untried strategies this week to promote different central Surrey projects. Toronto-based 3D Condo Explorer Inc., meanwhile, is seeking to expand to the B.C. market by selling kiosks for presentation centres that allow buyers to view three-dimensional renderings of the development and the suites within it – complete with simulated views from each future unit.
Pilothouse unveiled a glass-walled presentation suite inside Surrey’s Central City shopping mall that, beginning on March 26, will be inhabited with actors who get visits from celebrities during mall hours.
The suite has movable walls that can turn a large one-bedroom unit into a two-bedroom suite, just like units in the future Rize Alliance Properties Wave development at 133rd Avenue and 104th Avenue.
TheKey counters on March 31 with a one-day offering that owner Cam Good likens to Groupon for real estate.
He recently created a division called CONDOday. Members of the club register for free and get deals on real estate for one day only.
Good came up with the idea after watching Chicago-based Dream Town Realty spark a media frenzy last year by partnering with Groupon and offering $1,000 off homes worth at least $150,000 for a $25 coupon price.
Good decided against requiring potential buyers of his Quattro project in central Surrey to pay up front to get 20 times the saving.
“We considered doing it the true Groupon way, but we thought it would be cost-prohibitive for some people,” he said. “More people will come based on not having to pay for the privilege of coming to the launch. With a bigger group we’ll be able to negotiate a bigger discount from the developer.”
Quattro’s 168 units went on sale about six months ago and 60 remain, selling for $209,000 each.
Good expects to sell at least half of those units March 31 for $189,000 each. Developer Tien Sher Group of Companies has signed a contract promising never to sell any of the remaining units for less than $189,000 without offering all CONDOday buyers the same reduced price.
“It’s not a gimmick,” Good said. “It’s a fundamental force in economics, group buying power, and we’re applying it to real estate.
Developers say these kinds of marketing strategies are vital to create excitement in a competitive condo market that has slumped of late.
Not all projects can be like PCI Group’s Marine Gateway project, which had Rennie Marketing Systems sell all 415 units in four hours on March 17, largely on the strength of the project being above the Canada Line.
Strategics and MPC Intelligence’ February Metro Vancouver Condo Market Opportunities Report found that only 3,690 condo units in 65 projects began being marketed in Metro Vancouver in 2011’s second half. That compares with 6,093 units in 81 projects in 2011’s first half.
The report then forecast a dip in housing demand thanks to falling net migration into B.C. that “in 2011 might be down 8% from 2010.”
The report noted that an 8% dip in migration to B.C. would translate into a 16% drop in total housing demand in 2012 and a 10% drop in demand for new apartment and townhome sales.
According to a Re/Max Market Trends Report, home sales were down 16% throughout the Greater Vancouver area in the first two months of this year.
“Marketing strategies are about creating a buzz so media will give you editorial coverage,” said Rize Alliance Properties owner Will Lin. “You need a different message out there to stand out above the crowd.”
He was impressed that Pilothouse sold all 76 units in a New Westminster project within an hour at a November launch for developer Tridecca Developments.
Lin visited Pilothouse’s presentation suite for that project and saw an innovative sales technique where projectors beamed light from the ceiling in the shape of full-size floor plans so prospective buyers could determine how big their suite would be.
Projectors also beamed time-lapse views, taken from the 10th floor of a neighbouring building, onto each of the presentation centre’ four walls.
That gave buyers a sense of what they would see from their site at all times of day.
“People came to our presentation centre with cardboard cutouts of their couches to see if their furniture would fit,” Pilothouse partner Vince Taylor said. “That is the kind of thing people worry about.” •
