Presale
The BrokerFold Team — Product + Engineering
Last reviewed
A presale is the purchase of a home — most often a condo — before or while it’s being built: a contract with a developer to buy a strata lot that doesn’t exist yet, at a price fixed today, completing years from now. In BC the transaction runs under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA), which forces the developer to deliver a disclosure statement — the project’s formal self-description — and gives buyers a statutory cooling-off right after signing that resale purchases don’t share.
What you’re actually buying
A presale purchase is a contract, not a home. The disclosure statement describes the project, the unit, the strata’s intended bylaws and budget, and the developer’s rights — which typically include extending completion dates, substituting materials, and adjusting layouts within tolerances. Deposits, usually paid in stages into trust, are the buyer’s stake; completion can drift with construction reality; and the finished unit is measured against the contract’s tolerances, not the showroom’s lighting. There is no Form B to review because there is no corporation yet — the disclosure statement is the document that carries that weight, and it deserves the same seriousness.
The money layer
Three costs surprise presale buyers. GST — new homes carry it, rebates only partially soften it. Financing risk — a lender approves you at completion, years after you signed, at whatever rates and rules exist then; the price certainty you bought does not come with mortgage certainty. Exit taxes — assigning a contract or flipping the completed unit quickly now intersects with BC’s home flipping tax and the federal flipping rule, which together removed much of the speculative arbitrage that once defined the presale market.
Where presales make sense
The honest case: locked pricing in a rising market, time to save while the building goes up, a new-home warranty behind the finished product (BC’s construction warranty regime; Ontario’s equivalent is Tarion), and first pick of floor plans. The honest caution: you’re underwriting construction timelines, future interest rates and a developer’s solvency with today’s deposit. Presales reward buyers purchasing a home to live in on a flexible timeline — and have humbled plenty who bought a completion date as if it were a promise.
Frequently asked questions
Can I back out of a presale after signing?
BC's development marketing law gives presale buyers a statutory rescission right after signing — separate from, and longer than, the three-business-day rescission period that applies to resale homes. Past that window, you're in a binding contract with your deposit at stake.
Do I pay GST on a presale?
Yes — presales are new homes, so GST applies on top of the purchase price, with partial rebates available on lower-priced homes. Budgeting from the sticker price without the tax is one of the classic presale mistakes.
Can I sell my presale before completion?
Only by assigning the contract, and only as your contract allows — developers commonly restrict assignments, charge fees, and require consent. Assignment profits also live squarely inside BC's home flipping tax and federal flipping rules, so the exit is narrower than it once was.
Keep reading
- Strata Strata is BC's form of shared property ownership — a strata lot plus a share of common property, governed by a strata corporation and its bylaws.
- Form B The Form B Information Certificate is a BC strata corporation's formal disclosure — fees, reserve fund, litigation and bylaws — before a buyer commits.
- Home flipping tax Canada now has two anti-flipping regimes: the federal 12-month rule taxing quick resales as business income, and BC's own tax on sales within two years.
- Tarion warranty Tarion administers Ontario's new home warranty: one, two and seven-year coverage tiers, deposit protection, and claim windows buyers must not miss.