[onetwo_threefour]

Since troutman hasn't made an appearance, I will give my 2 cents. I am also a real estate lawyer, and the general consensus here is right. Economic tides do not qualify as force majeure. The builders a couple of years ago were using 'out clauses' and not force majeure arguments to try and jack up prices. In some cases they even had clauses written right into contracts allowing for price adjustments based on increased materials/labour costs.

As a small consolation, chances are that even if you had consulted with a lawyer, you wouldn't have been given any advice that would have changed your mind or got better terms in your contract. In general, in the good economic times, the builders will not modify the terms of their carefully created contracts even a little bit. Your lawyer may have advised you that you wouldn't have any outs in the event of a drastic market shift, but unless you were more risk-averse than most, you probably wouldn't have anticipated the recent shift and would have gone ahead anyway. (That's what every single one of my clients has done that I have advised of this risk in the last eight years.) Even if you had asked the builder, they wouldn't have agreed to modify the terms to shift the risk of a market collapse to themselves. (And really, why would they)

However, it is also true that some builders are renegotiating with purchasers right now in order to avoid having to take units back that may not be saleable and having to pursue purchasers for lost profits in bad economic times. However, you do need to be careful, as asking the builder whether they are willing to let you out of your contract could be considered an anticipatory breach of contract if handled improperly, and it would be a good idea to get a legal opinion specific to your situation and the particular contract you signed. However unlikely, it is possible that there may be a loophole in the contract that would let you out of the deal, and that is definitely the first thing to investigate if you are serious about getting out of the deal.

As always, when I post in here I remind people that you get what you pay for with free legal advice. Without seeing the specific contract and reviewing the situation, the above is just generalizations about my experiences with builders and purchasers over the past several years.