The Velocity condos broke ground (today/yesterday), meaning Bristol Development Group has secured lenders for the 60-million dollar project located in the gulch.
Bristol’s Lee Schaefer says in a tightening financial market, that meant pre-selling more units and requiring higher deposits.
“We did have 5-percent earnest money requirements, which is higher than what we’ve had on some of our projects in the past. I think a lot of projects in town have had $5,000 earnest money. So that’s reflective of today’s financial markets.”
At least one high-end condo project, Signature Tower, has been delayed since July as pre-sales lag and lenders take a wait-and-see approach to the cooling housing market.
Velocity has sold 143 of its 262 units. Schaefer says most of the buyers are people who will live there and that the days of speculators snapping up multiple condos is over. He says lending standards haven’t just tightened on developers but buyers too.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM