What Early Signs Suggest a Home Will Pull In Multiple Offers: Ask a Wahi REALTOR®

In the latest instalment of Ask a Wahi Realtor, we look at some of the early signs a home will pull in multiple offers.

By Josh Sherman | 2 minute read

For homebuyers, few — if any — experiences are more frustrating than finding what seems like the perfect home for a great price only to lose out in an unexpected bidding war.

And it’s not an uncommon experience. Bidding wars are common in the Canadian housing market, even when the market isn’t firing on all cylinders. In fact, in 2024 — far from a banner year for real estate in Canada — more than two-thirds of homebuyers reported being involved in a bidding war, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Mortgage Consumer Survey.  

While there’s no way for homebuyers to avoid these scenarios, there are things they can do to prepare. Perhaps most importantly, homebuyers can look for early signs that a home will pull in multiple offers. That way, they at least know what to expect. It can help them manage expectations and make better-informed decisions. With this in mind, here are several early signs that suggest a home will pull in multiple offers.

1. The home is priced below market value

Lowering the asking price to a number below the true market value is one strategy sellers may use to get more eyeballs on their listing. But how can you tell if a home is likely priced below market value? There are a few tells:

• Homes that have sat on the market for some time are more likely to have seen a price cut as the seller looks to spark interest. 
• If comparable homes in the neighbourhood have sold for significantly more than the list price, it may be priced below market value and have a higher probability of pulling in multiple offers. (Comparable homes share a number of similar characteristics, such as lot size, square footage, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, parking capacity, and more.)
• When a home’s list price has already been reduced multiple times, it may mean it is now priced below market value. Wahi contains a wealth of past sales data, which includes previous listings.
• If market conditions are cooler, you’re more likely to encounter more competitively priced homes. That’s because in a hot market, there’s less incentive for sellers to try and attract buyers. Demand is already strong.

   

It’s also worth checking to see what Wahi’s Home Value Estimator says. Wahi’s Home Value Estimator provides a free estimated market value (with up to 90% accuracy). The estimate appears on each of Wahi’s listings on the web and in the app.

Wahi’s Home Value Estimator takes several factors into account, including taxes, the size of both the lot and home, number of bedrooms, and more. Learn more about the factors that affect a home’s value, and try the tool out for yourself.

2. The home is in a desirable neighbourhood 

Some neighbourhoods seem to buck real estate downturns. No matter how cool the overall housing market is, there will always be exceptions. This could be for a variety of reasons. Some common hallmarks of resilient neighbourhoods:

• Transit-oriented: Neighbourhoods that are easily accessible by transit and well-connected to existing or future infrastructure are often more desirable. In fact, a recent study published in Research in Transportation Economics finds that homes that are walking distance from a bus rapid transit route receive a value boost of 5-7%. 
• Within a top-rated school catchment area: Neighbourhoods with a top-rated school tend to enjoy increased demand from homebuyers. 
• Relative affordability: Particularly in expensive housing markets, such as the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and B.C.’s Lower Mainland, affordability can help insulate a neighbourhood from a broader market decline. Regardless of market conditions, there are always first-time homebuyers, and they’re likely to be seeking more affordably priced pockets.

3. The Neighbourhood is in overbidding territory 

If you’re a homebuyer in the Greater Toronto Area, you can use Wahi’s Market Pulse tool to gauge how stiff the competition is across approximately 400 neighbourhoods in the GTA. The tool measures the differences between list and sold prices.

Neighbourhoods in which more homes are selling for a larger amount over asking are generally in overbidding territory. The tool lets homebuyers look at a heat map of the GTA to discover where bidding wars are more likely to occur.

4. There’s low Inventory in the neighbourhood 

It’s all about the law of supply and demand. If there’s limited supply in a neighbourhood, chances are better home prices will rise. Seasonal factors can affect inventory levels, but they are a general barometer of hyper-local market conditions nonetheless. 

Using the Wahi web platform or app, homebuyers can spot how many listings are available in a given area.