Recent indicators have shown the Vancouver housing market beginning to rebound - and now, bidding wars are back as buyers compete for prime properties.
On a quiet tree-lined street in the wealthy west side Dunbar neighbourhood, one new listing has attracted a lot of attention.
When it hit the market Tuesday, it was listed for $949,000. Three days and seven offers later, the property sold for $1,270,000 - more than $300,000 over the asking price.
And it's not the only one.
Some realtors say it's the result of a market regaining stability.
"This wasn't happening six months ago," Paul Eviston said. "A lot of confidence in the market, low interest rates and low inventory in product."
But others - like Tsur Somerville of the UBC Sauder School of Business - say under pricing listings is a typical real estate maneuver.
"If you can get a bidding war going, more people in the bidding war does tend to boost the price," he said. "The incentive for realtors tends to be more aggressive pricing on the low side and a faster sale."
But Somerville suggests it's only misleading for a realtor to list below market price if potential buyers think that's the price they're going to pay.
"Most of the people that came in here knew the house would sell significantly over what the asking price was," Eviston said.
And it didn't stop buyers from bidding up the price -- or the realtors from making the sale.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
