Work through the arithmetic before panicking. On a purchase with 20 percent down, a modest shortfall may not break the deal at all, because the loan requested can still fall inside the lender's ratio against the lower value. With the federal minimum of 5 percent down to $500,000 and 10 percent above, there is far less room, and the gap lands directly on the buyer's cash along with the default insurance premium and the Saskatchewan provincial sales tax charged on it at possession.
The realistic options are few. The buyer contributes the difference, the seller reduces the price, the two sides split it, the buyer switches lenders and requests a fresh appraisal, or the buyer exercises the financing condition and walks. Which of these is available depends entirely on how the offer was written, which is why the wording of the financing condition matters long before anyone has seen an appraisal.
Low appraisals cluster around homes whose improvements are undocumented. An appraiser working quickly from public records and a short visit can miss a basement developed without a permit or a rebuilt kitchen, exactly as an online estimate would. Joel Dyck's hand-reviewed valuation assembles that documentation up front, so the file supports the price instead of contradicting it.