Condo-mania returns as buyers seek bargains in Metro Vancouver

The once familiar hype of condo-mania returned to the Metro Vancouver real estate market on Monday evening as a crowd of eager buyers lined up for a chance to pick up some deals.

The Onni Group of Companies announced last week that it was slashing prices on condominium units in several buildings after the recent market slowdown left them with more units than they wanted to hold.

The sell-off came as prices and sales in Metro Vancouver's until recently soaring real estate market continued a decline from the peak of the market last March.

But flagging real estate values did not dissuade the crowd of hopeful bargain hunters, some of whom camped out overnight Sunday for a chance to snag a home in the company's Flo development in Richmond on Monday evening.

Sales agent Cam Good said the 55 units on offer were part of a series of several hundred units to be sold across Metro Vancouver by the developer.

"Everyone you see in line here is guaranteed a 25 per cent discount and some other people that come to our Wednesday night event at Cedar Brook will get even deeper discounts," said Good.

All the units were snapped up in less than three hours, and the new owners will get to move into their homes next month, the company said.

"We got a two-bedroom for 340 [thousand dollars]," real estate agent and condo buyer Jeanette Vetter told CBC News. "Quite the deal."

Home prices in the Vancouver real estate market dropped almost 11 per cent between December 2007 and the end of 2008, according to a special price index updated earlier this month by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

The board also reported the number of homes sold in 2008 fell more than 35 per cent from 2007 sales of more than 38,000 homes.