What's on your list for a great neighbourhood? How about plenty of walkways, useful community services and a healthy mix of homes and businesses. We like the sound of that too! Through Verdant's innovative pricing approach we are providing family size units at singles pricing.

UniverCity's four cornerstones of sustainability are: equity, environment, education and economy. It is recognized that a wide range of housing types are integral to establishing a diverse, equitable and lively community. Verdant is designed to make this beautiful mountain top community affordable.

Vancity Enterprises Ltd. (VCE), with considerable experience in providing innovative housing, has partnered with SFU Community Trust on this challenging project to provide high-quality, energy-efficient market housing at below market prices. Verdant has been designed with materials, construction and finishes of equal quality to similar wood-frame developments at UniverCity.

The initial fair market value of each of the suites at Verdant has been individually assessed by a registered appraisal company. This value minus 20 percent gives you the below-market sales price of each suite.

To maintain housing affordability for SFU's faculty and staff, Verdant will come with an innovative pricing program which will allow owners to purchase their residence at 20 percent below fair market prices, with three key conditions: The first is that they will be living in the residence, not purchasing to rent out; the second is that on re-sale, the residence must be sold at the same percentage discount below then-current market prices. Yes, purchasers will still be able to benefit from any price appreciation - it just means that they will start at a price below market and then, if they sold, resell at a price that is also below market. The third is that the residence will first be offered to SFU faculty and staff with children before being offered to the general market.

In the future, and for the term of the 99-year ground lease, when purchasers decide to sell their suite, they will first have to have their suite re-appraised to the then-current market conditions. The same 20 percent below-market discount will then still apply. This allows a return on the initial investment just like any other real estate purchase, and the re-sale control agreement ensures that affordability relative to market is maintained for the community and that savings will be passed on to subsequent owners.

•	Land provided by SFU Community Trust at a significantly reduced cost.
•	A tailored and cost-conscious marketing program - without conventional sales commissions nor expensive advertising.
•	Low Vancity development fee rather than a typical developer's high profit margin.

The graph below shows an example illustration of the effect of an increase in real estate prices on your investment. Both the fair market and the below-market prices show the same percentage (10 percent in this case) increase.