Portland New Condo Purchase Incentives
Needles to say, new construction projects continue to struggle. With occupancy rates in the teens (%) at some projects, developers are gradually starting to get creative,…well, some of them. Here’s a look at some of the incentives for new construction condos in Portland’s city center:
Encore
Of the 177 units at HOYT’s latest development at the northern edge of the Pearl District only 15 have sold so far. The certificate of completion was issued recently and new homeowners began moving into the Encore on February 13th. Prices had dropped by 12 per cent three months ago. The developer will entertain all “reasonable” offers, but appears content to stick it out.
Current incentive: $5000 towards closing costs or updates/appliances.
937
Fractal Geometry in the Pearl is home to 114 units on 16 floors. So far 27 have sold. Here’s what’s available. To help move things along the developer has secured a 3.875% interest rate on a 30-year fixed for qualifying buyers. Not bad, saves you about 15k-20k over a 3-5 year holding period (vs. a rate of 5.25% )
Waterfront Pearl
Good news for the Waterfront Pearl. The developer’s loan has been restructured and the construction lien that Hoffman Construction placed on the development back in ’08 has been removed! This should create some room for the developer to address pricing which has been static – and not exactly competitive – over the last 6 months.
John Ross
Prudential’s agreement to extend the construction loan at the John Ross presumably included some pretty clear guidelines to get those remaining 80 units sold. As a result, pricing – the best of all incentives – has been adjusted significantly. On average units are now priced at a 20% discount over previous price points – some as much as 30%. Here are a couple of examples:
-635 SF, was 268k, now 219k (-18%)
-1206 SF, was 549k, now 389k (-29%)
-1833 SF, was 999k, now 769k (-23%)
And here’s the current price sheet for the John Ross Condos.
Block 90
Situated on 13th and Flanders, this industrial conversion features 11 luxury condominiums equipped with high ceilings, hardwood floors, clerestory windows, and some of the best noise insulation we’ve seen lately. So far only two units have sold. Pricing remains firm, however, the developer is actively addressing some of the potential long-term cost issues and has secured a 10-year construction defect policy with a max. coverage of $1 million per incident ($2 million aggregate).
For most would-be buyers these incentives don’t go far enough. There’s more to be had, but getting there requires a firm understanding of who controls the development and how the decision process is influenced.
