Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. told the Vancouver Nov.10 Real Estate Outlook Conference that there is a 15 months supply of new and unsold condos across Metro Vancouver.

Investor-owned condos will likely also be offered at discounted prices next year, said Frank Schliewinsky of market analyst Strategics. Schliewinsky said that, as of November, there were 2,100 “speculative” condos on the market, with most in downtown Vancouver and in the Tri-Cities area of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody. “The situation has changed and not for the better if you are one of those trying to get rid of that ‘sure bet’,” Schliewinsky said.

The condo discounts should be making headlines by February, when über real estate salesmen Bob Rennie plans to unveils his new plan for selling the controversial Millennium/Olympic Village project on Vancouver’s False Creek.

“Sitting on my desk is a marketing plan with price reductions and incentives that the market will accept,” Rennie told the CMHC Housing Outlook Conference. The marketing pitch will focus on “now you will love the prices”, he said, “that is the closest we will get to blow out.” Rennie estimates it will take two to three years to sell the project out. 

Millennium Properties and the City of Vancouver still must sign off on the discounted prices to sell the remaining 457 completed condos, some of which are currently priced in the $1 million plus range. For more on the outlook for housing in 2011 across Western Canada, see the December edition of Western Investor.