If you hold a pre-construction contract and want out before final closing, you are selling your position in the agreement rather than a unit. That changes how it is priced, how it is marketed, and what has to happen before either can start.
1. What your agreement permits
Before price, the contract. Whether you may assign at all, what the builder's consent fee is, whether the builder must approve the buyer, whether you may market the unit publicly, and what happens to your deposits on consent. These vary widely between builders and they determine what is possible.
We read the agreement with a real estate lawyer and give you the answer in writing before anything is listed. A seller who does not know their consent terms cannot price the sale, because the fee comes off the proceeds.
2. What the position is worth
Assignments are hard to price because the data is thin. They are usually barred from MLS, so there is no public sold record to work from. Comparable evidence has to be assembled from current assignment listings and off-market transactions in the same project and in projects of similar type, stage and location.
Two figures drive the answer: what comparable assignments are asking, and what they have actually closed at. We set out both, along with what your original purchase price and deposits paid mean for the spread. A listing priced above what the position supports does not sell, and an assignment that sits gets stale quickly against a moving occupancy date.
For what the underlying resale market is doing in your area, our Toronto and GTA pages carry the current TRREB benchmark by district, updated monthly.
3. Finding the buyer
With public marketing usually restricted, an assignment reaches buyers through channels rather than through a listing everyone can see: broker-only platforms such as BrokerBay, direct circulation to buyers and agents active in pre-construction, and the network around the project itself. This is why assignments are sold by people who work in pre-construction rather than by whoever listed the house down the street.
Offers are qualified before they are presented — an assignee has to satisfy the builder as well as you, and a buyer who cannot be approved costs you the time rather than the deal.
What we need from you to start
- The project name and your suite number.
- Your agreement of purchase and sale, including any amendments.
- Deposits paid to date and the schedule for any still outstanding.
- Your firm date and the current statement of critical dates.
We will tell you what your agreement permits before quoting a price. On tax, read this first and then speak to an accountant — it is not something a brokerage should be answering.
Send us the project name and your firm date, or see what we do on the buying side.