Where Ontario Buyers Have Negotiating Room
Two numbers, read together: how often homes sell below the original asking price, and — when they do — how big the gap typically is. Both are measured against the first asking price of the relisting chain, so a seller who relisted lower does not hide the concession.
- Report period
- 2026 Q3
- Status
- FINAL
- Eligible sales
- 35,180
- Methodology
- v1.1 · full notes
Finalized October 2, 2026 — these figures are frozen and will not change without a visible revision note.
Analyst commentary — 2026 Q3
Commentary for this report period has not been published yet. The figures on this page come straight from the finalized snapshot data above.
Deepest Typical Discounts — 2026 Q3
Median discount among homes that sold below original asking. Ontario overall: 4.7% (on the 79.6% of sales that closed below the original ask).
| City | Median discount | Eligible sales |
|---|---|---|
| 1Russell | 2.9% | 78 |
| 2Clarence-rockland | 3.3% | 102 |
| 3Clarington | 3.3% | 319 |
| 4Strathroy-caradoc | 3.3% | 73 |
| 5Carleton Place | 3.3% | 63 |
| 6Loyalist | 3.4% | 76 |
| 7Ajax | 3.5% | 257 |
| 8Ottawa | 3.5% | 2,797 |
| 9Milton | 3.6% | 377 |
| 10Whitby | 3.6% | 342 |
Cities below the disclosure floor are excluded — sample sizes shown per city. Full table, every metric and every city: open the interactive index.
The Context Behind the Discount
A deep median discount means little if almost nothing sells below asking — and a shallow one means little if everything does. These four figures frame the leverage picture.
Where Buyer Leverage Is Growing — or Shrinking
Biggest changes in the share of homes selling below original asking.
| City | 2026 Q2 | Current | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pembroke | 72.9% | 88.7% | +15.8 pts |
| Quinte West | 70.4% | 85.9% | +15.5 pts |
| Dysart Et Al | 74.2% | 87.3% | +13.1 pts |
| Saugeen Shores | 69.0% | 82.1% | +13.1 pts |
| Severn | 79.3% | 91.5% | +12.2 pts |
| Frontenac | 78.7% | 90.3% | +11.6 pts |
| Essa | 85.7% | 96.9% | +11.2 pts |
| Prince Edward County | 79.2% | 90.2% | +11.0 pts |
| Thunder Bay | 20.7% | 31.5% | +10.8 pts |
| Carleton Place | 83.3% | 93.7% | +10.4 pts |
Year-over-year comparison is not available yet (the series starts Q3 2025) — showing change vs the prior quarter (2026 Q2). Red = market moving hotter, green = cooler.
What These Numbers Can — and Can't — Tell You
The median discount is conditional: it describes the typical gap among homes that actually sold below asking, not an amount any buyer can expect to knock off any listing. A well-priced home in a “high-discount” city may still sell at ask in days. Negotiating room concentrates in listings that started too high — the price-reductions report shows where those are, and the sale-to-list guide explains how to size up an individual listing.
Leverage also depends on time: markets where many homes sit past 60 days give buyers room that fast markets simply don't — check the speed ranking for the same cities before drawing conclusions.
Keep exploring
- Ontario Market Heat Index
The full interactive index — every city, metric, period and property type.
- Guide: Sale-to-list price ratio
Turning ratios into a realistic offer strategy on a specific home.
- Price reductions report
Where overpriced listings are being marked down — the raw material of leverage.
- Where homes sell above asking
The markets where negotiating room is scarcest.
- Guide: Original vs final asking price
Why we measure discounts against the first ask, not the last.
- Browse Ontario listings
See current homes for sale in the markets ranked above.