When several buyers want the same home, the one who wins isn’t always the one who offers the most, and the one who offers the most doesn’t always win. Here’s how multiple-offer situations work in British Columbia, what a seller can and can’t do, and how to write an offer that’s strong without paying more than the home is worth to you. It draws on guidance from the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), the province’s real estate regulator.
How a multiple-offer situation works
Often the seller sets a date and time to review offers, so every buyer has a chance to see the home first. Real estate professionals in BC must present every offer to their seller. Once the seller has them all, they can accept one, counter one, reject them all, or ask the buyers for new offers. A seller is never required to accept an offer, even one at full asking price.
Some buyers send a pre-emptive, or “bully”, offer before the review date, with a short deadline. The seller can consider it or wait. BCFSA notes that sellers who accept early may get less than they would have by waiting.
Multiple offers are less common than they were. In BCFSA’s 2025 survey of brokerages, 22% of reported transactions involved multiple offers, down from close to 30% in 2023 and 2024, though they remained most common in Metro Vancouver.
What the seller is allowed to share
In BC, a seller can instruct their agent to share information from one offer with another buyer, including how many offers there are and the highest price. A clause in your offer saying the seller can’t share it doesn’t bind them, because the seller isn’t bound by any term of an offer until they accept and sign it.
Offers that don’t work
A “referential” offer, such as “$10,000 more than the highest offer”, is risky. The BC Court of Appeal has held that an offer whose price depends on other buyers’ offers is invalid. Write a number.
The highest price doesn’t always win
In the same BCFSA survey, about 56% of multiple-offer sales went to the highest-priced offer. The rest went to offers that suited the seller better in other ways. What makes an offer strong besides the price:
- Few, short subjects. Your financing pre-approved, the inspection done before the offer date, and strata documents read in advance let you offer with fewer conditions or shorter ones, without skipping the work.
- A meaningful deposit, paid promptly when subjects are removed.
- Dates that suit the seller. Ask what completion and possession dates work for them.
- A clean, complete offer that’s easy to accept as written.
Subject-free offers
To stand out, some buyers drop every condition: no financing subject, no inspection. BCFSA warns this removes your ability to do any due diligence, and once a subject-free offer is accepted you must complete the purchase or risk being sued. In 2025, only 11% of reported transactions were unconditional, and 88% of accepted offers had at least one condition. The safer way to compete is to do the work before the offer date: inspection, financing and documents, so your subjects can be few and short. For more, see Subject removal in BC, explained.
Even an accepted offer can be undone in the first three business days under BC’s home buyer rescission period, for a fee of 0.25% of the price. That right can’t be waived, but it isn’t a substitute for due diligence. See The 3-day home buyer rescission period.
Paying more than asking
Paying over asking can win the home, but it means a bigger mortgage, and the lender’s appraisal may come in below your price. If it does, the lender bases the loan on the lower value and you make up the difference in cash. Decide your walk-away number before the offer date, based on recent sales and what the home is worth to you, and hold to it.
Questions people ask
Will I find out what the other offers were?
Only if the seller chooses to share it. They may tell you how many offers there are and what the highest is, but they don’t have to.
The home sold for less than I offered. Was that allowed?
Yes. A seller can choose a lower offer with better terms, such as fewer subjects, a larger deposit or better dates. It doesn’t mean anything improper happened.
Should I have the home inspected before the offer date?
Often, yes. A pre-offer inspection lets you write with confidence and fewer conditions. Ask whether the seller has already had one done, and read it, but consider your own.
General information for buyers in British Columbia, current as of publication. Every offer is different. Talk with your REALTOR® and your lawyer before writing one, especially a subject-free one.