Earlier this month, StreetSide Developments — a division of Qualico — announced the launch of its first concrete high-rise tower and flagship project in Surrey called Juno, which will rise 34 storeys and sit along 104 Avenue in the city's business district.
Juno will include 340 strata condominium units, with a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedrooms.
Perhaps most notable, however, is that StreetSide Developments is offering a 10% deposit structure for presale purchasers, as opposed to the more common 20% deposit structure.
"Presale condos are the easiest entry point into real estate ownership, but even presale buyers must overcome a big obstacle in the initial deposit," said Cam Good, Partner at KEY Marketing, which is managing sales for Juno. "Qualico Streetside has created a first-ever opportunity for people to own a high-rise condo with only a 10% deposit, or as little as $20,000 now and $20,000 later."
Typically, a 20% deposit structure would see presale purchasers pay, as one example, 10% after the rescission period ends, 5% a year later, and another 5% six months after that.
A 10% deposit structure is not unheard of, as other developers — such as Thind with its District Northwest project, also in Surrey — have offered it in their high-rise projects as well, although more often after starting with a 20% deposit before reducing it to 10% later on, rather than right off the bat.
Renderings of Juno.(StreetSiide Developments)
Contrary to what some may assume, presale deposits are not always determined by developers themselves and can often be determined by the lenders behind the project. This was the case with Juno, as StreetSide had to negotiate with their lender in order to offer the 10% deposit incentive.
"It took a lot of work," Jonathan Meads, Vice President at StreetSide Developments, tells STOREYS. "We're very lucky that Qualico, our parent company, has a great relationship across Canada with some of the big banks. To be honest, it was a negotiation. We've offered 10% on our townhouses for a long time and... it was just a discussion with the bank saying we really wanted to make the same offering [for Juno]. We worked very hard with the bank to achieve this offering and I think it's partially on the strength of Qualico and the strength of the brand behind us. When [the bank] said 'Okay, we can do this,' it was definitely a great moment for us, and I think it just shows the support and confidence the bank has in us."
A survey of various lenders conducted by commercial real estate brokerage CBRE in late 2023 found that many lenders actually planned on tightening lending conditions and shifting towards greater deposit requirements, in response to economic conditions.
For Juno, the 10% deposit structure will see presale purchasers pay 5% following the rescission period and then 5% 90 days later.
Mead says they've offered the same 10% deposit structure on just about all of the townhouse projects that he's been involved in since joining the company six and a half years ago, but that this is the first time StreetSide is offering it on a concrete high-rise tower, in what is also the first high-rise residential tower for Qualico.
Homes at Juno will start at the high $300,000s for studios, high $400,000s for one-bedrooms, mid-$500,000s for one-bed-plus-den units, high $500,000s for junior-two-bedrooms, and $900,000s for three-bedroom units, says Meads. He adds that Juno will also offer unique three-bedroom units with lock-off suites — a three-bedroom unit that can be separated into a two-bedroom unit and a studio unit — that will start at just over $1M.
"What it does is it allows those first-time buyers and those younger buyers to actually see an opportunity to get into home ownership," says Meads. "That became quite an important factor for us. We wanted to enable people to get into the market."
