Selling · Pricing strategy
Underpricing to trigger a bidding war loses its force when the buyer has twenty-eight percent more choice.
The context has changed, and not slightly
QPAREB data for the Montreal CMA, August 2026: 2,853 residential sales, down 13% year over year. 20,128 active listings, up 18%, with supply growth "plus marquée sur la Rive-Sud (+28 %) et la Rive-Nord (+26 %)".
By category, listings are up 19% for condominiums, 17% for single-family homes and 15% for plexes.
What that does to aggressive pricing
Deliberately listing below value to provoke multiple offers works when qualified buyers are plentiful and choice is scarce. When supply rises 18%, the same buyer has more options, less urgency, and the mechanism stalls.
QPAREB economist Helene Begin puts the phase this way: "Le marché immobilier est entré dans une phase où les acheteurs ont retrouvé un certain pouvoir de négociation, mais aussi davantage de raisons d'hésiter." The market has entered a phase where buyers have regained some negotiating power, but also more reasons to hesitate.
Both halves matter. More negotiating power, but also more hesitation: a badly positioned property no longer triggers anything at all.
The three costliest opening mistakes
- Starting from what you owe the bank. The market does not know your mortgage balance.
- Starting from the neighbour's price, on a house that did not sell. An active listing is not a comparable. A comparable is a sale.
- Building negotiating room into the asking price. In a market where the buyer compares twenty listings, that room simply removes you from their search.
The search bracket, again
Buyers do not search by exact amount, they search by tier. A price of $519,000 does not appear in a search for "up to $500,000". Positioning at $499,000 costs you $20,000 on paper and wins you an entire audience.
Downtown as the extreme case
QPAREB's Camille Laberge notes that downtown Montreal and the Sud-Ouest borough stand apart from the rest of the metropolitan region: those sectors now show the highest listing levels ever recorded in the system, and condominium prices there have been flat for several quarters.
Record listings, flat prices. In a sector like that, the asking price is not an opinion. It is the one variable that decides whether your condo gets shown or ignored.
Our method
We start from comparable closed sales over the past three months, in the same segment and sector, adjust for real differences, then look at what is currently competing with you. The asking price comes out of that, not out of a wish.
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.
Related
Frequently asked
How much has inventory risen?
By 18% year over year in the Montreal CMA in August 2026, with 28% on the South Shore and 26% on the North Shore.
Does underpricing still work?
It loses force as supply rises, because buyers have more choice and less urgency.
Should I build negotiating room into the price?
It is risky. Room built into the price can drop you out of buyers' bracketed searches.
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.