A deposit is the first financial hurdle a homebuyer needs to clear when buying a pre-construction home.

That deposit is generally five per cent of a home's total value for a purchase of less than $500,000, but it can be as high as 20 per cent for a $1-million-plus home. Those funds are a pre-construction commitment to the builder to take that condo or single-family home off the market. That money also gets put toward your eventual down payment.

It seems that every few months, a new story emerges from hot real estate markets like Toronto about a condo project being cancelled, leaving those who bought presale units scrambling to recovery their money and find another place to call home.

But what's the situation in Calgary, and what recourse do buyers here have if a project they've purchased in is cancelled?