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Sell or buy first

Should you sell your house or buy first in Quebec?

In shortSelling first avoids carrying two properties, and it can leave you without a home. Buying first keeps a roof, and it can mean paying for two homes until the first sells. A bridge loan is a short loan for that gap where a lender offers one, and this is general information, not financial or legal advice.

A Montreal house between the sale of one home and the purchase of the next

Two deeds have to be dated, and the money from one house is often what pays for the other. This page uses only what Royal Bank of Canada, TD and Desjardins publish about a bridge loan, what the OACIQ prints on its promise-to-purchase forms, and the latest Centris figures from the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers. It is general information from Bruce Malcolm, a private buyer. It is not financial or legal advice.

What do you risk if you sell first, and if you buy first?

Selling first means the price and the signing date of the house you have are known before you commit to the next one. Royal Bank describes that path as one mortgage at a time, with no bridge loan required. It names the other side: pressure to buy as that date nears, and the cost of temporary housing and storage if the two dates do not meet (Moving homes: should you buy or sell first?).

Buying first keeps a place to live, and Royal Bank says you can move directly, with no temporary housing, when the dates allow it. The same page says the risk is two mortgages and two sets of bills until the current home sells, if a second mortgage is approved, and that moving costs are harder to pay when the sale proceeds are not yet in hand. If you already have an agreement of sale and are only waiting for it to close, Royal Bank says a bridge loan is the usual tool for that wait. The page is a Canadian comparison. It is not a rule for one house in Quebec.

What is a bridge loan, and does Royal Bank require a firm sale?

A bridge loan is a short-term loan that puts what you already have in the current home toward the down payment on the next one, and that is repaid from the sale. Desjardins, which also calls it a prêt-pont, says it may be granted if you take possession of a new property before you have sold yours, that it pays the down payment the purchase requires, and that you repay it once the current property is sold, on the terms agreed with the caisse. That FAQ does not state a maximum term, an interest rate, or Royal Bank’s rule that the sale must already be firm (Qu’est-ce qu’un prêt-pont?).

Royal Bank does state the firm-sale rule. To qualify, a firm sale agreement must be in place on the existing home. The loan lets you use the equity in that home for the down payment on the next one, and you repay the loan and the interest from the sale proceeds (Bridge financing). TD asks for a copy of the sale agreement on the home you are selling and of the purchase agreement on the home you are buying, and for approval of a TD mortgage or a TD Home Equity FlexLine on the new property. TD’s page does not use the words firm or unconditional. It does say that if the sales agreement falls through, you may have to pay two mortgages until a new sale is made (TD bridge financing). A promise that still depends on the buyer of your house selling another property is not the firm sale Royal Bank describes. Whether another lender will advance money without one is that lender’s decision. This page does not guess it. In Quebec, the document Royal Bank is describing is the accepted promise to purchase once its conditions are fulfilled or waived, not the deed the notary signs later.

How long can a bridge loan last, and how does the interest work?

The pages do not agree on one term, so this page does not average them. Royal Bank says the typical term is six months, and that it can be as short as 90 days or as long as 12 months or more. TD says the loan typically lets you carry mortgages on two properties for up to 90 days, and that a mortgage specialist explains options past 90 days or for a larger amount. Desjardins’ FAQ says the loan is short-term, and that repayment follows the terms agreed with the caisse.

None of the three pages states an interest rate or a day-count. Royal Bank says interest can be more expensive than conventional financing, and that terms, costs and conditions vary widely. It also lists, as a disadvantage, that there is no guarantee the home will sell during the term, next to Royal Bank’s rule that qualification requires a firm sale agreement. Royal Bank’s firm agreement can still fail. TD describes a sales agreement that falls through, without the word firm. TD says the rates are similar to open-rate mortgages, often higher than the rate on the current mortgage. For the amount, TD’s own example is a home worth $300,000 with $200,000 owing, which may support a $100,000 bridge loan, reduced by an estimated amount for closing costs. That equity repays the loan once the current home sells. The example is TD’s illustration. It is not a price for a house in Montreal, and it is not a rate.

Can the promise be conditional on the sale of the buyer’s property?

On a brokerage sale, yes. The OACIQ says Annex R – Residential immovable must be used when the promise is to be conditional on the sale of another property. It goes with the mandatory forms, including Promise to purchase – Chiefly residential immovable containing less than 5 dwellings excluding co-ownership, and with the divided and undivided co-ownership promise forms. Only a checked box applies. Clause R2.1, “Sale of the buyer’s immovable,” makes the promise conditional upon the sale of the buyer’s immovable at the address written there (Annex R – Residential immovable).

The buyer must notify the seller in writing, before the date and time in the clause, either that the condition has been fulfilled or that the buyer waives it. A waiver is allowed only if the buyer shows, at the same time, the funds to cover the price. If the promise is also conditional on a hypothecary loan, proof of a lender’s undertaking that meets the financing condition and is itself conditional on that sale can satisfy the financing condition. Once R2.1 is fulfilled, the undertaking has to be unconditional. If the buyer does neither by the deadline, or notifies without the proof, the promise becomes null and void. The buyer stays bound until that deadline and cannot simply withdraw. The period is negotiated: the OACIQ says the buyer will want it long and the seller will want it short, and that a broker weighs the time similar properties take, the season, the condition of the property and the asking price. A sale that is not made on these forms writes its own condition. The notary reads the document that was signed.

What does the 72-hour first-refusal clause change?

Clause R2.2 does not come with R2.1 unless it is checked. If it is checked, the seller may keep offering the house. When a second promise has been accepted and its conditions are fulfilled, except signing the deed before the notary and cancelling the first promise (clause R2.3), the seller must send the first buyer a written notice. The notice gives 72 hours to waive R2.1 and the other conditions still open, and to show the funds, or to let the promise become null. If the buyer does not answer in the time and in the way the clause states, the promise becomes null and void. Those 72 hours run from the buyer’s receipt of the notice, not from receipt by the buyer’s broker (if the notice goes by telegram, the clause starts the clock when the message is recorded) (Understanding first refusal clause R2.2).

Clause R2.3 belongs on that second promise. The second buyer is told that the first promise might not be cancelled, for example if the first buyer waives the conditions within the 72 hours. These clause numbers belong to the OACIQ forms.

How do you match the signing date on both deeds?

Each promise has two dates. Clause 11.1 is the undertaking to sign the deed of sale before a notary on or before a stated date. The buyer becomes the owner when the deed is signed, chooses that notary, and pays for the deed, its publication, and the preparation and registration of a deed of hypothec. Clause 11.2 is the date and time the house is made available. The two dates may be the same, or they may differ by a few days, weeks or months. The “on or before” date is not a strict deadline: missing it does not, by itself, make the promise null, though the OACIQ says the miss can become a serious dispute (Declarations and obligations common to the buyer and the seller and the promise to purchase form).

When clause R2.1 is used, the OACIQ says it is usually better to write clauses 11.1 and 11.2 as a delay counted from an event, and that the date in R2.1 has to fall before those periods end. Its example: if the promise is accepted on 1 May and R2.1 runs to 1 August, clause 11.1 should say a number of days following fulfilment of R2.1, not a number of days following acceptance. Occupancy is then a short number of days after the deed. If one sale is a link in a chain, each promise’s delays have to leave room for the others. The sale money is not handed over at the table. The Chambre des notaires says the notary pays only after the deed is filed at the land registry, which generally requires 24 hours, and normally holds the funds for a few days, after checking that no undisclosed sum is owed to a creditor (The notary’s role). Two deeds on the same morning do not, by themselves, put the sale proceeds in hand in time to pay the purchase. The notary on each file says whether the dates work. What the price has to clear on a hypothec is in Can you sell a house with a mortgage in Quebec?.

Can you sell first and still stay until you move once?

Yes, if the buyer agrees and occupancy is later than the signing. The promise to purchase says the seller then pays a stated amount per month, from the signing date to the occupancy date, as compensation for staying. Heating, electricity and general maintenance stay with the seller, who also supplies proof of liability insurance at the seller’s expense. The notary pays that compensation to the buyer out of the sums payable to the seller. The OACIQ says to write a specific monthly amount, not “to be negotiated,” and that this is compensation, not rent, so the clause does not create a landlord and a tenant under the housing rules.

That is one way to sell first and still have the house on the day the deed is signed. It is not a right. It exists only if the buyer agrees and the promise says so. What you leave behind, and when the money arrives, is in When do you have to move out after selling a house in Quebec?.

How long is a Montreal house taking to sell?

The latest monthly Centris tables are for September 2026. The association’s monthly index still listed that month as the newest one. In September 2026, average days on market for a single-family home were 41 in the Montreal census metropolitan area, one day more than a year earlier, on 1,649 sales at a median price of $635,000. On the Island of Montreal the single-family average was 55 days, three days more than a year earlier, on 310 sales at a median of $779,000. Active residential listings in the metropolitan area were 21,793, up 20% from a year earlier. The label on the table is average days on market. It is not the time until the notary signs, and it counts homes that sold. What the count includes is in How long does it take to sell a house in Quebec? (September 2026 monthly statistics; monthly statistics index).

The newer publication is the third-quarter release of 14 October 2026, which covers July through September rather than September alone. In the Montreal metropolitan area, single-family homes took 40 days on average, which the release calls relatively stable, while condominiums took 61 days, 13 days longer than a year earlier. Single-family sellers still had the advantage across that area. Residential sales were 9,265, down 12%, and active listings reached 20,350, up 17% (Third quarter of 2026). A condition that waits for another house to sell sits on top of whatever time that house takes. These averages are not a prediction for one address.

What does a direct offer with a flexible date change?

The uncertainty in selling first is not knowing when a buyer will make an offer whose conditions are fulfilled. Royal Bank’s bridge loan asks for a firm sale agreement before it will lend. A buyer who still has to sell another house is not that agreement, unless clause R2.1 has been fulfilled or waived with proof of the funds.

Bruce Malcolm buys houses himself on the Island of Montreal and the surrounding areas. He holds no broker, agent or appraiser licence, and he is not an advisor. There is no inspection and no commission. The closing date is one you choose once the notary can sign, which is how a date can be placed next to a purchase you have made or still have to make. The date is real only when the notary’s file can support it. Sending the address starts a conversation (request an offer). The form does not commit you.

Sell first

What the sources say. One mortgage at a time. The risk is temporary housing if the next purchase is not ready.

Where it is written. Royal Bank, buy or sell first

Buy first

What the sources say. A roof with no gap. The risk is two mortgages and two sets of bills until the first sale closes.

Where it is written. Royal Bank, buy or sell first

Bridge loan

What the sources say. Short loan on the equity, repaid from the sale. Royal Bank requires a firm sale. TD states up to 90 days. Royal Bank states typically six months, from 90 days to 12 months or more. No page states a rate.

Where it is written. Royal Bank; TD; Desjardins

Clause R2.1

What the sources say. On the brokerage forms, the promise is conditional on the sale of the buyer’s immovable. Miss the notice, and the promise is null.

Where it is written. OACIQ, Annex R

Clause R2.2

What the sources say. If it is checked, a second promise whose conditions are fulfilled requires the seller to send a 72-hour notice.

Where it is written. OACIQ, clause R2.2

Later occupancy

What the sources say. Signing and moving out can be days, weeks or months apart, for a stated monthly compensation. Not rent.

Where it is written. OACIQ promise to purchase, clause 11

Ways to order a sale and a purchase in Quebec

Sources

Questions people ask

Keep reading

This is general information about how a sale usually works in Quebec. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not a promise about your price or your date. A notary — and, if your file needs it, a lawyer or a licensed insolvency trustee — applies the rules to your situation. Sending an address does not commit you to sell.