Having failed to sell off all its condos during an auction last year, the South End's brand new Bryant complex is looking for a second bite at the apple, with plans to put another 11 units on the block next month. One three bedroom/three bath unit that been on the market for over $2 million will now be auctioned off at a minimum bid price of $1.1 million, for example.

Meanwhile, dozens of condos will hit the auction block today at the new but struggling Audubon Park condo complex in the Fenway. After failing to find buyers at prices that had ranged from $479,000 to just under $800,000, the condo project's new owners have slashed prices of one bedrooms to $225,000 and two bedrooms down to $325,000.

The question now is who will be the next luxury condo developer to throw in the towel?

The W Boston, already in bankruptcy protection, certainly looms as a likely candidate.

Prudential, the project's main lender, is pushing to foreclose and turn the "life-style" hotel's well more than 100 unsold units over to another firm to get rid of, likely through an auction.

There are lots of unsold units at the new Clarendon tower and 45 Province St. as well.

Frankly, what we have right now is a waiting game. Buyers are betting that these tower owners are going either have to auction off their units or simply slash prices. And until that happens, they are not going to put big dollars down on condos that may soon sell for half the price.

For downtown condo developers, those are the breaks. Some timed the market right and made out like bandits. Others bet wrong and are now paying the price.

And the winners in this case are downtown condo buyers, who soon will have lots of discounted units to pick from.

A little overbuilding can be a good thing at times.