Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur is skeptical of Escala’s ability to raise prices amid all this recession talk in, Condo grandeur’s price still climbing:
Recession? What recession?
There’s no such thing at Escala, the 31-story, mixed-use condominium complex under construction at Fourth and Virginia in downtown Seattle.Escala is so confident about Seattle’s prospects that this week, the builder is raising prices between 3 and 7 percent for the unsold units. Prices reach $8.5 million.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Bonus link: Meanwhile on the other coast NY Mag is reporting on incentives to get the buyers, To clinch condo deals, developers are coming up with sweet incentives. (via reader VC).
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2 responses so far ↓
1 rob // Jun 3, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I am seeing the same thing with some new construction developments as well. I was surprised to see that Quadrant raised prices at its Stendahl Ridge development in Poulsbo. The market in Kitsap is really slow, I don’t see how higher prices is going to jumpstart that development.
As Matt said…good luck with that.
2 jcricket // Jun 4, 2008 at 9:29 am
It’s just a perception and publicity game. Raising the prices gets them press. And there are some buyers who might think, “Gee, these houses are going up in price, they must be desirable”. So they’ll at least check them out.
I don’t know what the stats are on whether these tactics work, but I can see the thinking behind them.
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