Buyer's market 2026 · Pricing strategy
Supply is climbing, timelines are lengthening, overbidding is retreating, and one sale in four now goes through a price revision. A price is no longer set the way it was two years ago, and no longer corrected at the same moment. Here are the figures, and what they change in practice.
The August 2026 figures
Montreal CMA: 2,853 sales, down 13%. 20,128 active listings, up 18%, including +28% on the South Shore and +26% on the North Shore. Days on market: 42 for single-family (+1), 62 for condominiums (+12), 52 for plexes (-4). Median prices: +3% single-family, +4% condominium, +2% plex.
Quebec City CMA: one transaction in four closed after at least one price revision, against one in five a year earlier. First revision averaging -3% on condominiums and -4% on single-family homes, after 41 days and 35 days respectively. Overbidding: 17% of transactions in August, against half in the spring.
What these figures mean together
A market does not tip through prices, it tips through timelines and inventory. Prices follow two to three months later, because a sale closing in August was negotiated in June. That is why a seller can read 'prices up 4%' and live a market noticeably slower than last year, with no contradiction.
QPAREB economist Helene Begin sums up the phase: buyers have regained some negotiating power, but also more reasons to hesitate. Both halves count.
Every page in this guide
- Cutting your price: when to do it, and by how much
- Setting your asking price when inventory is climbing
- Overbidding fell from half of all sales to 17%
- Selling a condo in 2026: 62 days, and twelve more than before
- Buying in 2026: what you can ask for again
- Prices up, sales down: why that is not a contradiction
What these figures do not say
A regional statistic describes a market, not a property. Two houses on the same street, at the same price, can meet opposite fates depending on their condition, their preparation and the competition active at the exact moment of listing.
That is why we never set a price from an average. We start from comparable closed sales over the past three months, look at what is competing today, and adjust for real differences. The statistic is background, not method.
Three habits in the current market
- Price to be found, not to keep room. Buyers search by bracket, and built-in room drops you out of their search.
- Set a revision date in advance. Deciding at week five, before listing, avoids deciding emotionally at week twelve.
- Prepare the file before the showings. Documents, certificate of location, invoices for work done. What answers fast converts better.
Sources: Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) releases of 4 September 2026 covering the Montreal CMA and the Quebec City CMA, August 2026 data. The price-revision and overbidding statistics come from the Quebec City CMA release; the Montreal CMA release does not publish those measures for the same month. Figures consulted 13 September 2026.
Published by the Loaa & Manseur team, number one team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025. Tell us about your project.