Why SOBP Offers Are Booming in Nova Scotia’s High‑Price Market
- Nova Scotia Home Finder
- Jan 29
- 3 min read
SOBP (Sale of Buyer’s Property) offers are becoming more common in Nova Scotia because prices have risen faster than many households’ ability to comfortably carry two homes, so more buyers now *need* to sell first to make the numbers work.
Quick refresher: what an SOBP is
An SOBP condition makes a purchase conditional on the buyer successfully selling their current home within a set timeframe; if they do not sell, they can walk away without completing the purchase.
In Nova Scotia, this shows up as a specific buyer’s condition attached to the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, alongside other conditions like financing and inspection.
Rising prices and why SOBPs are back
Average home prices in Nova Scotia have climbed dramatically since 2021, with analyses showing increases of more than 50% between 2021 and 2025, pushing typical sale prices into the mid‑ to high‑400s and near 500k in 2025.
In Halifax specifically, the average residential sale price reached about 600k in 2025, up roughly 4% year‑over‑year, with another 3% gain projected into 2026, keeping affordability under pressure.
When prices were lower, some move‑up buyers could qualify to own two properties for a short overlap period, but with today’s higher prices and larger mortgages, far fewer buyers can safely or comfortably carry both.
That financing squeeze naturally pushes more people toward SOBP offers, because they literally cannot firm up on the new home until their current one is sold and their equity is unlocked.
Other forces making SOBPs attractive
The market is still tilted toward sellers, but it is no longer as frenzied as 2021–2022, with days on market lengthening into the 40–56 day range in 2025 and list‑to‑sale ratios softening from peak levels; this gives sellers a bit less leverage to refuse conditional offers outright.
Inventory has improved modestly, with new listings and total listings rising in 2024–2025, which reduces extreme bidding wars and opens the door for more conditional offers, including SOBPs, to be considered.
In a white‑hot, multiple‑offer environment, sellers can simply ignore any SOBP offers and choose clean, firm deals.
As conditions normalize slightly, more sellers will at least weigh an SOBP if it comes with a strong price and a well‑qualified buyer, especially when paired with a time clause that lets the seller keep marketing the home.
How SOBPs fit into today’s buyer psychology
Higher prices, higher stress: many buyers feel they are stretching to the top of their budget just to secure a home, and the idea of carrying two large mortgages at once is both financially risky and emotionally overwhelming.
Equity as the key lever: with so much of a household’s wealth now locked in their existing property, the sale of that property is the main way to fund the down payment on the next one, which makes an SOBP condition feel like a safer, more responsible choice than gambling on a quick sale.
An example: a Halifax homeowner who bought for 320k in 2018 might now sell for 550–600k, but the home they want next may cost in that same range or higher; they need the equity from their current place to qualify and to keep payments reasonable, so they structure their offer with an SOBP condition and a defined deadline.
Is the SOBP trend really tied to rising prices?
The rise in SOBP use is not tracked publicly the way prices are, but the logic is straightforward: as prices and mortgage amounts rise faster than incomes, more buyers become “must‑sell‑first” households, which structurally increases the demand for SOBP‑style clauses.
At the same time, the slight cooling from peak bidding‑war conditions makes it more realistic for those buyers to have SOBP offers accepted, so you get both higher *need* and higher *feasibility* of SOBPs in the same period.
So while you cannot point to a single statistic that says “SOBPs are up X%,” the combination of steep price growth, slower but still competitive market conditions, and greater reliance on existing home equity makes it very reasonable to attribute their growing popularity, at least in part, to constantly rising house prices in Nova Scotia.
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