Something happened here on Vancouver Island in the real estate world that just doesn't happen very often here. It was a real estate auction.
A condo project in Parksville which completed about a year ago didn't completely sell out. It is 'The Onyx', an upscale development at Craig Bay. Reports are that its developer wanted to move on to his next project. But first he needed a way to sell the five remaining unsold units.
The words 'unreserved auction' would scare the daylights out of many owners, but not this developer. It was his way to move ahead, so he put it in the capable hands of Ritchie Bros.
The auction went ahead on Saturday, June 21. Reports are that about 200 people registered for the sale. It was all history in under an hour.
The developer was happy. And so were the buyers, who apparently got some very good deals, at prices substantially less than originally listed.
Reports are that some of the other owners, those who bought at the pre-sale stage some time earlier, were concerned the auction would affect the value of their property. But the auction received broad advance publicity, so one might reasonably conclude it wasn't the auction that affected prices. More likely, it was just Mr. Market.
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