Which to choose: an off-plan apartment or one in a completed building?
It depends on what you are prepared to pay with. Off-plan is cheaper and comes with instalments, but the keys come in a year or two with deadline risk. A completed building costs more, but the building, view and neighbours are visible at once, and you can live in or let the apartment almost straight away.
This is a decision about what you are prepared to pay with: time and risk, or money. An off-plan apartment is usually cheaper and often sold on a developer instalment plan, but you will get the keys in a year or two, and completion of large buildings often shifts. An apartment in a completed building costs more, but everything is visible at once: the building, the neighbours, the view, how the lifts work, the management company's rules.
An off-plan apartment: when it makes sense
If you will not need the money in the coming years, have time in reserve and the developer has been checked: the building permit, the right to the plot, past buildings and how they were completed. In the contract the completion date, penalties for delay and the acceptance procedure matter. And remember: until the building is completed the apartment is not listed in the registry as a separate property, and it can be used for a residence permit only after the right is registered. More on the page about off-plan apartments.
When a completed building is better
If you need the apartment for living or letting right now, if the view matters and could easily be blocked by a neighbouring tower on a construction site, and if you do not want to depend on the developer's deadlines. In a completed building we check the extract, debts to the management company and the condition of the apartment. If a resale apartment is already renovated, we look separately at the bathroom and wiring. More on the page about apartments in completed buildings and in the comparison “New build vs resale”.