legal for developer to "bluff" on units currently "under offer"?

[jack2016]

Let's say a developer is developing 50 land (section) lots.

Let's say I asked to show which lots are still available and it turns out 3/4 of all the sections are marked "under offer".

Let's say I'm a bit suspicious ... (I could be entirely wrong of course!)

Is it legal to falsely mark lots as under offer willy nilly just to create a sense of FOMO?

Eg maybe they are "under offer" to the developer's own company for example? still legal?

[jack2016]

Also saw another development before this one. When I checked for available lots (sections) about 2 weeks after they were officially released, 80% were marked as "sold".

This was even more suspicious! Sold to the developer themselves perhaps?

[Wayne]

Also saw another development before this one. When I checked for available lots (sections) about 2 weeks after they were officially released, 80% were marked as "sold".

This was even more suspicious! Sold to the developer themselves perhaps?

Often sold or under offer to group building companies. They often put options on sections.
A few years back I was told that if I wanted to persue one of the sections then they would go back to the option holder to exercise the option or release it.
I forced the exercising of 10 options before I lost interest in the game. But at least they had to stump up!

[jack2016]

thanks that makes perfect sense