GlossaryReal estate development,
Real estate development,
in plain words.
Short definitions of the terms developers, sales teams and finance teams use every day.
- Absorption rate
- The share of available stock sold per month. It shows how fast a project or segment is selling.
- Balloon payment
- A larger payment at the end of a plan or a period, which keeps earlier installments lower.
- Booking
- A reservation of a unit, usually with a deposit, for a limited hold period before the contract.
- Break-even cash discount
- The most a cash buyer should get off the price: the gap between the list price and the present value of a payment plan.
- Deposit slip
- A list of cheques taken to the bank together for deposit.
- Expression of interest (EOI)
- A refundable payment before a project opens, which gives the buyer priority at launch.
- GDV (gross development value)
- The total sales value of a project or a group of units at their prices.
- Grace period
- A time after signing before installments begin.
- Handover
- Delivering a finished unit to the buyer, often the point when handover and maintenance installments fall due.
- Installment aging
- Overdue amounts grouped by how late they are, such as 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days.
- IRR (internal rate of return)
- For a payment plan, the yearly rate at which its installments are worth exactly the cash price.
- Masterplan
- The site plan of a whole development. An interactive one is clickable and connected to live unit data.
- NPV (net present value)
- What all the installments of a plan are worth today, after discounting each for the time until it is paid.
- Off-plan
- Sold before the building is finished, usually with installments over several years.
- Payment plan
- The schedule of a buyer's down payment and installments.
- Post-dated cheque
- A cheque dated in the future, usually one per installment, deposited when it falls due.
- Premium
- An amount added to or removed from a base price for a feature such as view, floor or corner.
- Price escalation
- Raising prices in planned steps during sales, by time or as units sell.
- Release
- A set of units brought to market together at launch prices.
- Retention
- Part of a contractor's payment held back until a milestone or handover.
- Snag
- A defect found at or after handover, followed until it is fixed.
- Stacking plan
- A view of a building by floor and column, showing every unit, usually coloured by price or status.
- Unit swap
- Moving a buyer to another unit, with what was already paid counted toward the new one.
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