Seller · Valuation
It is the number one question of homeowners, and the honest answer fits in one sentence: it depends on who gives it and what they rely on. Here is how to untangle the three numbers you will be served.
A property's market value is the price an informed buyer would agree to pay today, and it is established from closed comparable sales of the last months, not from the neighbours' asking prices nor from the municipal assessment. Three sources give three different answers. The municipal assessment is used to calculate your taxes and rests on a three-year roll set at a past reference date, which explains the frequent gap with the market. Online automated estimators work on sector averages and ignore real condition, renovations and lot orientation. A broker's analysis starts from real closed sales adjusted for the differences with your property. None replaces a chartered appraiser's report when a lender, an estate or a court requires a formal document. To put a property on the market, the comparative analysis based on closed sales is the reference, because it is the only one of the three that looks at the property itself.
The municipal assessment distributes taxes; it does not sell. It rests on a three-year roll whose reference date precedes its coming into force, which mechanically creates a gap with the market. The online estimator works on averages and public data. It knows nothing of your renovated kitchen, your roof at the end of its life, or the fact that your lot faces a park rather than a boulevard. A broker's analysis starts from closed comparable sales and adjusts, line by line, for the real differences with your property. It is the only one of the three that looks at your house. Not to be confused with a chartered appraiser's report, a formal document required in certain contexts: specific financing, estates, litigation, expropriation.
A serious comparative analysis keeps sales that actually closed, recently, in the same sector and for the same type of property, then adjusts each difference: living area, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, garage, finished basement, age and quality of renovations, condition of roof and windows, lot size and orientation, pool, and real proximity to services and public transit. Two rules make all the difference: never compare a closed sale to an asking price, because an asking price is only a request, and never compare a property within walking distance of a major transit station to one that is not, even in the same city. The location premium plays out at the scale of the street. Our home prices by city and selling times by city show it in the data.
Adds value: an up-to-date kitchen and bathrooms, recent roof and windows, a finished basement with decent ceiling height, a garage, a lot without direct overlook, walking distance to a transit station, a sought-after school sector. Removes value: deferred major work, an atypical layout that is hard to resell, noise exposure, a history of unresolved problems, and above all a starting price that is too high and lets the property accumulate days on the market. Adds almost nothing: very personal tastes, high-end finishes in a sector that does not support them, and expensive renovations invisible to the buyer.
A property listed above its value attracts fewer showings in the first two weeks, precisely when interest peaks and the best offers are made. After that, days accumulate, returning buyers assume something is wrong, and the price drop that finally comes is negotiated from a weakened position. The typical result is a final price lower than a fair positioning would have obtained, with extra weeks. Conversely, a price aligned with the comparables creates competition from the opening and lets the negotiation move upward. The right price is not the highest you can display: it is the one that maximizes the final amount deposited in your account.
Before a refinancing or a renewal, to know your real equity. Before selling and buying again, to align the two transactions. In an estate or a separation, to start from a defensible number. And once a year if you own a revenue property, to track your position.
Compare it to recent closed sales of the same sector, type and similar size, adjusted for the differences. A broker's comparative market analysis does exactly that, for free.
No. It is a tax tool based on a three-year roll set at a past reference date. Market value comes from closed comparable sales.
They give an order of magnitude from averages. They ignore condition, renovations and the street-level location premium, which can represent tens of thousands of dollars.
Also available in French: version française de ce guide.
Published September 1, 2026 by the Loaa & Manseur team, the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 according to the official RE/MAX ranking. Tell us about your project.
Équipe no 1 de RE/MAX Platine en 2024 et en 2025, 6e au Québec, 15e au Canada et dans le top 50 mondial au classement officiel RE/MAX. Réponse en moins de 24 heures, sept jours sur sept.