(a) Any deposit made in connection with the purchase or reservation of a unit from a person required to deliver a public offering statement pursuant to G.S. 47C-4-102(c) shall be immediately deposited in a trust or escrow account in a federally insured depository institution or a trust institution authorized to do business in this State and shall remain in the account for such period of time as a purchaser is entitled to cancel pursuant to G.S. 47C-4-108 or cancellation by the purchaser thereunder whichever occurs first. Payments held in such trust or escrow accounts shall be deemed to belong to the purchaser and not the seller.
(b) Except as provided in G.S. 47C-4-108, nothing in subsection (a) is intended to preclude the parties to a contract from providing for the use of progress payments by the declarant during construction.