British housebuilder Galliard Homes made a bold move in the run up to last week’s referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union by offering to give buyers of some of their apartments back their deposit in the event of a “yes” vote.
While a lot of people were shocked and nervous about the British voters’ decision to leave the EU, Galliard Homes, the largest privately owned property developer in London, perhaps had reason to be more worried than many others after putting the Brexit clause in contracts for apartments at its Skyline development in Slough, just outside London.
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However, a representative for the company told Mansion Global that so far only one buyer had asked for their money back and that they managed to resell that particular property. The 89 apartments were priced between £200,000 ($264,462) and £250,000 and all have been sold off plan since sales launched on June 8. It was a 50/50 split between domestic and international buyers.
“As of today, just one client — an owner occupier —has exercised the Brexit clause but Galliard has already re–sold that flat to the firm’s standby list buyer at same price; the buyer is a professional investor,” David Galman, sales director at Galliard Homes, said.
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“I anticipate that we may get a small number of deals at Slough falling out of bed due to Brexit – all domestic end users spooked by the Brexit drama – but I have already had investor clients call me yesterday and also this morning from the standby list saying that they want to buy up any units that end users may seek to sell,” Mr. Galman said.