Mr Butler told the Daily Post: “We will not let people walk away from contracts, so much so we will pursue people.

“The first phase is trying to get people back, then it is trying to do deals, then it is going to litigation – it is only protecting our interests.”

Describing how the “deals” are reached, Mr Butler added: “The reason we have been successful is we have been pragmatic.

“We have reviewed the apartments they were buying, reviewed the prices, how much equity they were putting in and delayed the completion, waiting until the end of the year when they have a bit more money.”

He said at a recent three-day “open house”, more than 1,000 people viewed the apartments and interest in the development spiked.

Seven offers were made on apartments in the days after the marketing drive.

But Grosvenor has boosted the number of let flats from 50 to 110.

Many of those are studios and Mr Butler said they will most likely be sold when the market recovers.

Last month, the developer also dropped the price of the studios by 9%, from £99,000 to £90,000.

Buyers get a £4,500 furnishing package thrown in as well.

It is that sort of reaction, along with the 15% discount offered to Alexandra Tower’s buyers, which worries Riverside councillor Steve Munby.

He is concerned price-dropping could have a “psychological” impact on the market and put it into a tailspin.

Cllr Munby said: “People are making the calculation that it is a bargain now, but it will fall more in six months’ time and they will get a better deal.

“It is a test of nerves between investors and developers.

“There was a ludicrous over-valuation of apartments in the city centre and an oversupply.

“Probably, the market is bouncing back the opposite way. I am worried about the psychology of it.”

But Mr Butler insisted Grosvenor’s price drop would not be repeated.

He said: “People have discounted a lot more, but this has been a much more resilient development.

“I could sell the lot at a 30% to 40% discount. But Grosvenor is different. We do not need to sell them at a 40% discount.

“I had the authority to sell at lower prices but I am OK to sell fewer at higher prices, rather than selling more at lower prices.”

GERRY Proctor, chairman of the Engage Partnership – an umbrella group for the city’s leaseholder residents’ associations – said at City Quay, where he lives, only about six flats have changed hands in the past six months.

At the top of the property market, around double that were being bought and sold.

Mr Proctor said: “Properties are not sitting vacant for very long.

“People are choosing to rent rather than buy.”

But he added: “It is very much a buyers’ market. You can almost ask what you want.

“People are going in and they can ask what they want – they are quite happy to put it very low and see if the other party is desperate to sell.”

OPINION: PAGE 8