The four groups accounted for 786 reported sales. Together, the figures show that selling below asking was common, while the middle sale-to-list ratio in each category remained relatively close to asking.
Those are different observations. One tells us how often a sale was below asking. The other helps describe how close sale prices were to asking.
The source reports do not specify whether “list price” means the original or a later asking price. Throughout this article, asking price refers to the measure used in those reports—not necessarily the price at which a home first entered the market.
How often did Ottawa-region homes sell below asking?
Below-asking sales represented a substantial majority in all four property categories.
Common scale: 0–100%. Source: PropTx-data report snapshots. The table below gives the same values and reported sales counts.
| Property type | Reported August sales | Sold below asking | Median sale-to-list ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single detached | 378 | 77.5% | 98.0% |
| Freehold townhouse | 207 | 78.3% | 98.5% |
| Apartment condominium | 128 | 85.9% | 97.7% |
| Townhouse condominium | 73 | 83.6% | 97.7% |
Source: supplied August 2026 market reports based on PropTx data; selected region: Ottawa.
Apartment condominiums had the highest reported below-asking share, followed by townhouse condominiums. Detached homes and freehold townhouses were closer together, at 77.5% and 78.3%.
These are separate property groups. Their sales counts add to 786, but that is not a total for every residential property type in the Ottawa region.
How far below asking did homes sell?
A sale-to-list ratio expresses a sale price as a percentage of the asking price used for comparison. A ratio of 100% means the prices match. A ratio below 100% means the sale price was lower.
In August, the reported median ratio was:
- 98.0% for detached homes, equivalent to 2.0% below the asking-price reference.
- 98.5% for freehold townhouses, equivalent to 1.5% below.
- 97.7% for both condominium groups, equivalent to 2.3% below.
These medians summarize the source’s reported sale ratios in each category, including sales at or above asking. They are not the median discounts among only the homes that sold below asking. The supplied reports do not provide that narrower measure.
The distinction matters. A high percentage of below-asking sales does not, by itself, establish that the price differences were large. Nor does a sale-to-list ratio reveal the offers, counteroffers or concessions that led to an agreement.
Did below-asking sales become more common?
The direction differed by property type.
| Property type | August 2025 | July 2026 | August 2026 | Change from July |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single detached | 79.9% | 77.0% | 77.5% | +0.5 percentage points |
| Freehold townhouse | 76.8% | 75.4% | 78.3% | +2.9 percentage points |
| Apartment condominium | 87.0% | 83.9% | 85.9% | +2.0 percentage points |
| Townhouse condominium | 90.7% | 89.5% | 83.6% | −5.9 percentage points |
Share of reported sales below asking. Changes are calculated from the displayed, rounded percentages.
Condo townhouses stood out. Their below-asking share fell from 89.5% in July to 83.6% in August—a decrease of 5.9 percentage points. Their median sale-to-list ratio moved only slightly, from 97.6% to 97.7%.
Apartment condos illustrate why the two measures should be read together. Their below-asking share increased from July, yet their median sale-to-list ratio also increased, from 97.1% to 97.7%.
In other words, a larger share sold below asking while the middle ratio moved closer to asking. The frequency of below-asking sales and the distance below asking do not necessarily move together.
Compared with August 2025, below-asking shares were lower for detached homes and both condominium groups, and higher for freehold townhouses. These observations do not show a uniform shift across the market. Each period also contains a different mix of sold properties.
Is selling below asking the same as a price reduction?
No. Selling below asking compares the agreed sale price with an asking price. A price reduction changes the advertised asking price before a sale.
A seller can reduce an asking price and subsequently sell at the revised price. A home can also sell below an asking price that never changed.
The percentages in this article therefore cannot tell us how many sellers reduced their asking price, when they did so, or whether a reduction helped produce a sale.
They also do not measure a change in a home’s market value. Asking price is the reference point for these statistics, rather than an independent valuation.
What does this mean for buyers and sellers?
For buyers, the figures establish that below-asking sales occurred frequently across all four categories. They do not establish an appropriate offer for a particular home. The relationship between that home’s asking price and comparable sales still requires its own assessment.
For sellers, a below-asking sale alone does not establish that a property was poorly marketed or that the outcome was weak. These reports describe sale prices relative to asking prices; they do not evaluate whether a pricing strategy achieved the best available result.
Timing supplies another piece of context. Our August Ottawa-region time-to-sell report reports median days on market of 27 for detached homes, 28 for freehold townhouses and 34 for both condominium groups.
Those separate summaries do not show that a longer marketing period caused a lower sale-to-list ratio. They provide context for comparing property categories, while leaving the circumstances of an individual sale to be examined.
Source and methodology
This article uses supplied July and August 2026 market-report snapshots based on PropTx data, captured September 10, 2026. August figures and year-earlier comparisons come from the August reports. The July figures were checked against the separate July reports.
“Ottawa region” means the reports’ selected Ottawa region, with all cities, neighbourhoods, architectural styles, beds and baths within each chosen property type. It is not asserted to match the municipal boundary or the full Ottawa Real Estate Board territory. Semi-detached homes and other categories are outside this comparison.
The statistics are provider-reported aggregates. New Purveyors Lab transcribed the displayed values, summed the four sales counts and calculated percentage-point changes. We did not reconstruct exact below-asking counts from rounded percentages or calculate median ratios by dividing aggregate sale and list prices. The screenshots do not supply separate valid-record counts for each price metric.
This article consistently retains the report snapshot’s 378 detached sales. A separate PropTx extraction contained 379; figures from the two snapshots have not been combined.
The observations describe sold listing episodes, which are not necessarily unique homes. The summaries do not establish how relistings are treated, and they do not include the experience of homes that remained unsold. They cannot establish the probability that a current listing will sell below asking.
Data: PropTx. Analysis and commentary: Matt Richling, New Purveyors Lab. The provider link identifies the data source; it is not a public permalink to the supplied report snapshots.
Cite this edition
Richling, Matt. “Are Ottawa-region homes selling below asking price?” New Purveyors Lab. August 2026 edition, published September 10, 2026. Data source: PropTx. Permanent edition.