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How it worksUnderstand why, and the limits

Where our numbers come from, and what they cannot see

The data behind listings, market stats and home value estimates, how often it refreshes, and the specific things an automated estimate is blind to.

1 min readUpdated


What comes from where

Data refreshes daily rather than continuously. For the live status of one property, the listing agent is the only reliable source.

What you seeWhere it comes from
Listings and their detailsTRREB board data through a RESO-compliant pipeline.
Market statistics and trendsAggregated sold and active data for the area you are viewing.
Home value estimatesComparable sales near the property, adjusted, with a confidence rating based on how many were found.
Calculator figuresYour inputs, plus statutory rates — tax brackets, rebate thresholds, the stress-test rate — and our stated assumptions where you did not supply something.

What an automated estimate is blind to

  • Condition. A home stripped to the studs and one freshly renovated look identical in the data.
  • What has been done without a permit, which can reduce value rather than add it.
  • Aspect, noise, and what is behind the fence.
  • Anything that made the last comparable sale unusual — a private sale, a family transfer, a power of sale.
  • A street that is genuinely different from the street one over.

Why we show a range and a confidence rating

A single number implies a precision that comparable-sales estimation does not have. The range is the honest output; the point estimate inside it is just the middle. The confidence rating tells you how many comparable sales the estimate rests on — under three, it is leaning on city-wide averages and should be read as a very wide range.

This is also why every calculator separates what you entered from what it assumed. An estimate built on six of your figures and two of ours is a different thing from one built on one of yours and seven of ours, and you cannot tell which you have unless we say.