What a comparable sale actually is

A comparable sale is a recently sold property that is similar enough to the one you are buying or selling that its sale price tells you something useful about value. Agents call them comps. Appraisers use them. Lenders rely on them. And most buyers see them for the first time in the middle of a negotiation, which is too late to learn how to read them properly.

The idea is straightforward. If a house on the next street, roughly the same size, in roughly the same condition, sold three weeks ago for a certain price, that sale gives you a reference point. The challenge is in the word "roughly." Two houses are never identical, and knowing which differences matter is the whole skill.

The five things that make a sale comparable

Location comes first. A sale on the same street or in the same neighbourhood is more useful than one two kilometres away. Even within a neighbourhood, there are differences. Backing onto a park is not the same as backing onto a railway corridor, and the sale price reflects that.

Size is next, and it means above-grade living area, not total square footage including the basement. A 1,400 square foot bungalow and a 1,400 square foot two-storey are not the same house. The bungalow sits on a larger footprint, costs more to roof, and appeals to a different buyer. Compare like with like.

Age and condition matter together. A 1960s side-split that has been renovated top to bottom is not comparable to one that still has the original kitchen. Renovation quality varies too. A $30,000 kitchen and a $90,000 kitchen are not the same upgrade, and the sale price of each house will reflect the difference.

Lot size and configuration are the fourth factor. In areas like King City or Nobleton, lot sizes vary enormously. A half-acre lot and a two-acre lot in the same community are different products for different buyers, even if the houses on them are similar.

Timing is the fifth. A sale from six months ago happened in a different market than one from last month. In a stable market the gap matters less. In a market where prices are moving, even three months can shift the picture. The more recent the sale, the more weight it carries.

What to watch for when your agent presents comps

Start with how many they show you. Three is the minimum for a meaningful comparison. One comp proves nothing. Two can be cherry-picked. Three starts to show a pattern, and five is better.

Look at the sale-to-list price ratio on each one. If a comp sold at 97 per cent of its asking price, that tells you the seller did not get what they wanted. If it sold at 103 per cent, there was competition. That context matters as much as the raw number.

Check the days on market. A house that sold in eight days faced different conditions than one that sat for sixty. The eight-day sale may have been underpriced to attract offers. The sixty-day sale may have been overpriced and then reduced. Neither is automatically a better indicator of value, but the story behind each one changes how you use it.

Ask about adjustments. If the comp has a finished basement and the subject property does not, the comp's price overstates the subject's value. If the comp has no garage and the subject has a double, the comp understates it. Your agent should be able to explain what they would add or subtract and why.

The question most buyers forget to ask

When you see a set of comps, ask your agent whether there were any recent sales they chose not to include, and why. The excluded sales are sometimes more revealing than the included ones. A sale that was left out because the seller was under financial pressure tells you something about the floor. A sale that was left out because it was a private transaction with no MLS exposure tells you the data is incomplete.

No set of comparables is perfect. The point is not to find three identical houses. It is to understand the range of prices that similar properties have actually achieved, and then to figure out where the property you are looking at sits within that range.

Why this matters before you make an offer

Your agent's pricing advice is only as good as the comps behind it. If you understand how to read them, you can have a better conversation about where to set your offer price. You are not trying to do your agent's job. You are trying to be a better client, which makes the whole process work more smoothly for everyone.

If you want help reading the comparables for a property you are considering, call me at 416-560-4983.