Open Bidding in Ontario: Will It Transform Public Procurement?

If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you’ve probably encountered a bidding war. How you felt about it often depends on whether you were buying or selling. A competitive bidding process can push a property’s sale price higher by prompting buyers to submit their strongest offers — sometimes paying more than they otherwise would. That’s welcome news for sellers, but it can be frustrating for buyers, especially first-time buyers or anyone shopping in hot markets such as Toronto and Vancouver.

At the end of last year, Ontario updated its real estate law through the Trust in Real Estate Services Act (TRESA), making open bidding a legal option in the province. Because real estate regulation is provincial, these changes currently apply only in Ontario. The reform attracted attention, but has it changed the market? Below we explain what open bidding means for buyers and sellers in Ontario and how it might affect the housing market going forward.

What is open bidding in real estate?

Open bidding is a process in which the details of all registered offers on a property are shared openly among prospective buyers. If multiple offers are registered, each buyer can see the key terms of the other offers — such as purchase price, deposit amount and proposed closing date. Personal names and any conditions tied to the sale of another property remain confidential.

Open bidding is the opposite of blind (or closed) bidding, where buyers submit offers without knowing the specifics of competing bids. Open bidding allows buyers to compare their offer directly to others and, within a defined timeframe, adjust their proposals accordingly. The goal is greater transparency and a clearer sense of the competitive landscape for both buyers and sellers.

What impact has open bidding had on Ontario’s housing market?

When the federal government proposed a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights in 2022, one of its aims was to limit blind bidding to improve affordability. That idea influenced Ontario’s TRESA changes, though blind bidding has not been banned in Ontario or elsewhere in Canada. Under the new rules, open bidding is permitted but not mandatory, so closed bidding remains common in many parts of the province.

“Open bidding brings more visibility to the buying process,” says Doug Vukasovic, a Toronto realtor. Even so, Vukasovic notes he has only handled one open-bidding situation so far and none of his sellers have chosen that route. “It’s not something people are gravitating towards,” he adds.

From his perspective in Toronto, Vukasovic doesn’t expect open bidding alone to shift overall home prices. He points to interest rates as the more powerful driver of market changes. A drop in mortgage costs tends to increase buyers’ purchasing power and demand, while higher rates reduce affordability. In short, interest-rate trends are likely to have a bigger effect on prices than the shift to optional open bidding.

How can sellers decide if open bidding is right for them?

Once the terms of offers are disclosed, you can’t reverse that transparency — though a seller can switch from closed to open bidding at any point during the offer process by providing written consent and informing buyers. Vukasovic says sellers rarely begin with open bidding, but they may choose to open bids after several offers are on the table.

Open bidding can be helpful when several top offers are close in value. For example, if three competing bids on a million-dollar-plus home fall within $20,000 of each other, opening the process can encourage each buyer to submit a final, highest offer. That creates price clarity for buyers and often benefits the seller if one buyer raises their offer.

Conversely, when the leading offers are widely spaced — say $100,000 apart — a seller may avoid opening bids because revealing that gap could prompt the higher bidder to withdraw rather than risk overpaying. Large disparities among offers are less common, so strategic use of open bidding typically focuses on tight, competitive listings.

Sellers can therefore use open bidding as a tactical tool within a transaction. It’s worth noting that buyers can also protect themselves: an offer can include language stating it becomes void if the process switches from closed to open bidding. That prevents a buyer’s offer from being used as leverage against others, though it introduces the risk that the offer may be voided unexpectedly. Discuss potential contract clauses with your realtor so your strategy matches your risk tolerance.

What buyers and sellers should keep in mind

Buying or selling a home is often stressful, but there are tools and strategies to help. A knowledgeable realtor familiar with your local market can explain whether open bidding makes sense for a particular listing and recommend how to structure offers and disclosures.

Has the change to allow open bidding transformed Ontario’s real estate market? Not yet. More than six months after the legislative change, interest rates remain the dominant factor affecting housing affordability and buyer demand. Open bidding may become more common over time, but so far it hasn’t produced a measurable impact on home prices.

“Will [open bidding] become mainstream in the future? Perhaps,” Vukasovic says. “But from a home-pricing perspective, we aren’t seeing an impact yet.”

Read more about real estate:

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