Surrey presale resale: what changed for buyers?

Key takeaways

The Surrey unit sold for $510,000 after an asking-price reduction from $519,000.
The sellers had purchased the presale in 2023 for $601,000 plus GST.
The two-bedroom corner unit has 718 square feet and a $596.25 monthly maintenance fee.

A two-bedroom corner apartment in Surrey sold for $510,000 after reductions from its original asking price, according to Headtopics. The result was below what the sellers had paid for the presale unit in 2023.

"Unless you have something absolutely unique or it’s a good deal, it’s not going to sell." — Ian Watt, listing agent at Hellen Murch Realty, according to The Globe and Mail

What was the apartment and how was it priced?

The property is unit 3511 at 13350 Central Avenue in Surrey. Its final sale followed reductions from an asking price of $519,000, previous asking prices of $549,000 in June 2026 and $599,000 in April 2026, and a selling price of $510,000.

The corner residence contains two bedrooms, two bathrooms and 718 square feet of interior space.
The sellers bought it as a presale in 2023 for $601,000 plus GST and also paid taxes connected with their purchase.
The recorded monthly maintenance fee was $596.25, while the taxes listed for the transaction were $2,806.10.

The home also includes a balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows. Shared building facilities include a gym, an office area, a parking stall and a rooftop lounge on the 44th floor. The property is within walking distance of the SkyTrain, a library and a recreation centre.

The sale closed on September 28. Headtopics listed the property’s market time as 14 days, alongside a separate property days-on-market figure of 127.

Why did the sellers reduce their price?

The sellers wanted to recover the money they had paid for the presale, but agent Ian Watt said the market did not respond to their expectations. Open houses were held every weekend, although potential attendees frequently failed to make serious offers. The offers received were extremely low, he said.

After the sellers reduced the asking price, they received an offer that resulted in the $510,000 sale. Watt described the buyer as obtaining a discounted home that was almost new.

The reductions were substantial but gradual: the asking price moved from $599,000 to $549,000, then to $519,000, before the property sold for $510,000. Watt said lowering the price was what brought forward a credible buyer.

Why was the purchase price not the determining value?

Watt said a home’s value in the current market does not depend on either the amount originally paid for it or its assessed value. Instead, the determining factor is what a buyer is prepared to pay.

That distinction was visible in the Surrey transaction. The sellers’ 2023 purchase was $601,000 plus GST, while the eventual buyer paid $510,000. The source reports no calculated discount beyond those stated figures, but the difference is clear without one: the earlier purchase price did not set the final sale price.

The case also shows that an asking price is not itself evidence of market value. The unit was initially listed at $519,000, had carried earlier prices of $549,000 and $599,000, and ultimately required a further reduction to secure a buyer.

What does this mean for off-plan buyers?

The Surrey transaction offers a narrow but relevant lesson for off-plan buyers: a developer’s original or presale price should not be treated as the price a later buyer will necessarily accept. The documented buyer-side factor was current willingness to pay, not what the original purchaser had spent.

The case does not identify the developer, disclose a payment plan, provide a handover timetable or set out specific buyer-protection terms. It therefore cannot establish how the sale would compare with a project still under construction. It does, however, document the difference between a historical presale price and the negotiated price in a later resale.

The final sale price was $510,000.