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First of all, people need to understand that the whole idea of a so-called asking price is nothing more than an artificial construct. It’s meaningless, many times just a marketing game to draw people into the home.

There was a case two years ago where an agent purposely listed a home for $1 in Toronto to attract interest. That would be a heck of a market crash.

Real estate sellers have the option of listing something for sale at a certain price with zero obligation to sell it at that price. I’d love to see a retailer try that trick.

In the $1 sale, no buyer made an offer for what the seller really wanted and no sale took place — at least based on that marketing trick.

“All that really matters is the actual sale price,” says noted housing bear Dave Madani, an economist with Capital Economics who has called for a 25% reduction in Canadian home prices.

The problem for would-be buyers is an auction process that leaves them blind to what the other guy is bidding.

It’s not a guy with a gavel yelling out “do I hear” this much for the house. It’s an agent telling you you are not the only bidder and you should come in with your “best price” or potentially lose the property.

You could have a home listed for $500,000, you bid $525,000 because there is one other offer and never find out that the other offer was for $480,000.

The multiple offer game creates an inflationary environment that these days the real estate market just might need. The latest statistics from the Canadian Real Estate Association show average prices in Canada up 2.2% from a year ago. March sales were off 15.3% from a year ago and active listings are still climbing in many markets.