Brand New San Diego Condos not Selling Now Being Rented

There are several new condo projects that have recently finished construction or are about to by summer of 2009. Its an interesting time to be not only building new condos but it’s a challenging time to sell them. If the developers had only know 3 years ago what the market was going to be like now they might not have built, or more likely would have built a different product than what they built.

Case in point, the developers that built the ultra luxury condos are doing quite well in sales with the more expensive units selling before the less expensive units. These developers include 1700 Investors, BOSA, Douglas Wilson, and Centurion Partners. The buildings they have recently built are Mi Arbolito condos, Electra condos, Bayside condos, The Mark condominiums Sapphire Tower condos all luxury high rises in downtown San Diego.

There are two new developments in San Diego’s downtown that are selling their condos at a slower pace than the luxury condos mentioned above. These developers and projects are Point of View with Vantage Pointe condos and Centurion Partners with Smart Corner. There are two reasons these condos are not selling as fast as the others listed above. Reason number one, location, after all location is the foundation of all real estate desirability/demand. Reason number two, quality, these buildings are not luxury condos they are more say middle of the road quality speaking directly about the finishes, amenities, etc.

These two buildings, Vantage Pointe and Smart Corner are built in the Core neighborhood of downtown San Diego. For the first time since the real estate market boom of this decade, these developers are also now offering their unsold units for rent. It appears they do not want to lower the prices any more and want to hold on to them until San Diego’s condo inventory dries up some. During that time they will have some cash coming in and who knows once mortgages become easier to obtain again the tenants may even want to purchase the condo.

There is a lesson for developers here and a message for buyer as well. The developers should learn from observation that the residents of downtown San Diego have an insatiable appetite for high end luxury view condos. Also an old lesson worth repeating is real estate demand is driven by location, location and location.

Condo shoppers should note that there are only two available lots to build luxury high rise condos with prime views left in downtown San Diego. You may wait on those, which you can expect to pay about $1,250/sf on average for or you can take advantage of today’s soft market to grab a condos before inventory tightens up and prices firm up. Read more about Sapphire Tower condos.