Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson told the Straight today (October 6) that 266 of the $1-billion Olympic Village’s more than 700 market sales units have been sold.

“The marketing strategy has been to not sell through this year with the market underperforming,” Robertson told reporters outside council chambers. “I believe the strategy now is to hold [off] until next May, let the project get the massive exposure of the 2010 Games, and then roll out the sales program.”

Robertson said he thought the market had “really improved for the lower end and the more affordable housing that’s available in the city”.

“A lot of the units that remain to be marketed are on the high end—they are multimillion-dollar apartments,” he said. “I think the strategy here is to hold those, wait until the market is very strong—the exposure is at its very highest—and then let them loose.”

In her report to council today, city manager Penny Ballem confirmed that 420 units of the 1,100 total units on the site (including affordable housing) have been “inspected, approved and locked down by VANOC”.

She said the suites must be inspected by Vanoc, Millennium Development Corp., and the city.