The Icon in the Gulch is the premier anchor property in The Gulch. The property gained notoriety at the height of the real estate boom for selling out all 420 units in 48 hours! Was that the end of the story? Not by a long shot, as by the time the building was built and it was time to start closing units the economic picture had changed significantly. Impressively the listing sales team were able to get many of the original buyers to the closing table. Today more than two years after starting to close the building and in the midst of the worst economy in living memory, the building is about 3/4 sold out. 90 or so units remain from the developer.
What does this mean? With units left, the developer can make great deals that make it tougher for individual owners that want to sell. Don’t take it from me, listen to the numbers.
Since January 1, 2010 there have been 103 closings. That is a lot for a 420 unit building. From information available to me in the multiple listing service all but two of those closings were developer held units. One of those two was a foreclosure and the other was a non-typical penthouse level unit. So this points towards the fact that the developer aggressively sold these units. Prices have been fairly steady but the developer can always “sweeten” the deal in ways that an individual owner cannot. The developer can do this by giving away parking or helping out with closing costs. These numbers tell me it has been a tough year for individual owners trying to sell their units. The good news is that the developer only has 90 or so units left. It would be logical that these units are the least attractive ones too since they are the last to sell. Either the location in the building or the floorplan is a wee bit less desirable. Icon currently has 16 units pending too–which means that really only 74 or so are available for sale. Another interesting piece of data that supports my assertions is that all 16 of these pending units are developer held units. In the last year there has also been 44 units that either expired or were withdrawn from the market. In a nutshell this means that they were not able to sell. Of these 44 units, 20 were units from individual owners. This tells me that individual sellers are having a tough time competing with the developer. This is not all gloomy news as every month that goes by and units sell brings Icon closer to the day when individual sellers will not be competing with the developer.
The last two years have been challenging for original buyers at the Icon as they have seen prices slide and if they had the need to sell it was tough to compete with the developer. However the day is approaching when the remaining developer held units will be sold. Of course for buyers the market is wide open and they have a myriad of choices. Individuals that “have” to sell at the Icon should see an increasingly sunny marketplace if they can just hold on. In another year the market should be even better for those that choose to sell.