Joel DyckReal Broker SK Ltd.
Saskatoon · From the topic map

How do seller concessions in recent comps distort what my home is really worth?

They inflate the recorded price. When a seller pays a buyer's costs, covers repairs or leaves cash on the table through an adjustment, the sale registers at a higher figure than the property genuinely commanded. Anyone reading those sales without knowing the terms, including automated models drawing on Information Services Corporation records, prices your house too high.

The pattern shows up hardest on new construction and in slower stretches of the market. A builder holding unsold inventory will offer an appliance package, a developed basement, a fence and deck allowance or a rate buydown rather than reduce the posted price, because the posted price is what every later sale in the development gets compared against. The concession protects the comparables and moves the cost off the price line.

An appraiser is supposed to adjust for this, which is why the terms of each comparable sale matter as much as the number. Appraisal Institute of Canada standards call for the conditions of sale to be considered, and an agent with access to the full listing history can often see the price reductions, the days on market and the notes that reveal what really happened.

For a resale seller the lesson is to price against clean comparables and to think about how you structure any concession you offer. Saskatoon sat at 1.63 months of supply in the latest association data, which is not a market that demands large giveaways. Joel Dyck's hand-reviewed valuation reads the terms behind each comparable rather than only the recorded figure.

Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

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