Can You Buy a House Before Selling Yours in Laval?

Yes. In Laval, you can buy before selling with a bridge loan once the sale of your house is signed, with a home equity line of credit or two mortgages if it is not, or through an offer conditional on your own sale. The risk is counted in days: an average of 36 to sell a single family home in Laval in the third quarter of 2026, and 51 on the island of Montreal, according to Centris.

Can you buy a house before selling yours? Yes, in three ways

Three ways to buy first, with the reverse order on the last line for comparison.

The question that sorts it out. Before the purchase deed is signed at the notary’s office, will you have a signed sale agreement for your house? If yes, a bridge loan can cover the gap, on the lender’s terms. If not, you need a solution from the second line of the table, or a condition in your offer.

Selling first without moving twice. The OACIQ promesse d’achat (promise to purchase) for a house separates the deed of sale (clause 11.1) from occupancy (clause 11.2). Occupancy after the deed is negotiated in the promise; under clause 11.3, it requires you to pay the buyer a monthly compensation, to pay for heating, electricity and maintenance, and to show proof of liability insurance.

Bridge loan: how does it work?

The public pages consulted, from CMHC and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), do not describe the bridge loan: it is a lender’s product. Here is what two lenders publish about it, on pages consulted on October 20, 2026.

The definition. Desjardins, which also calls it a prêt-pont in French, describes a short-term loan granted if you take possession of a new property before selling your own. It is used to pay the down payment on the future home and is repaid once the current one is sold, according to the terms agreed with your advisor, with no published rate or term.

The term and the price. TD describes a loan that covers the gap between the two transfer dates, usually for a maximum of 90 days, at rates it says are similar to open mortgages and often higher than the interest rate on your current loan.

The amount. At TD, it is based on the equity in your home: its value, minus the loan balance and an estimated amount for transfer costs. The home value estimator gives you a ballpark figure; the amount granted remains the lender’s decision.

The condition that changes everything. TD asks for a copy of the sale agreement for your current home and of the purchase agreement for the new one. This loan therefore finances a gap between two known dates, not the wait for a buyer.

Buying before selling without a bridge loan

If the purchase deed comes before your sale, three types of credit exist, and all of them are decided by the lender or the mortgage broker.

1. The home equity line of credit. The FCAC states that it lets you borrow up to 65% of your home’s value. As a general rule, the same page specifies, total borrowing on the home, mortgage balance included, does not exceed 80% of its value. Talk to the lender before you sign an offer.
2. The second mortgage. According to the FCAC, up to 80% of the home’s appraised value, minus your loan balance, usually at a higher rate than the first mortgage.
3. Two full loans. You keep the old one and take out a new one. FCAC benchmarks: housing costs of no more than 39% of gross household income, and total debt of no more than 44%. The payments on your current loan count among those debts.

For the ceilings and costs of these products, see mortgage refinancing in Quebec.

A fourth route requires no credit at all: a distant deed date. Clause 11.1 of the promesse d’achat leaves that date blank; the further away it is, the more time you have to sell, if the seller agrees to it.

Your current mortgage. Clause 10.4 of the promesse d’achat makes the seller responsible for the costs of repaying and discharging their mortgage, prepayment penalty included, unless otherwise stipulated. Portability, according to CMHC, lets you transfer the loan to the new property with no penalty or a reduced one: if your contract provides for it, ask within what time frame. Otherwise, see the penalty for breaking a mortgage.

Buying conditional on selling: clause R2.1 and its limit

What the clause allows. With condition R2.1 of the OACIQ’s Annexe R, your promise depends on the sale of your house. Before the deadline entered on the form, you notify the seller in writing that the condition is fulfilled or that you waive it; waiving requires you to show at the same time that you have the funds to cover the price. Without notice, the promise becomes null and void.

What it leaves the seller. If clause R2.2 is checked, the seller can keep offering the house for sale. If they accept another promise and its conditions are fulfilled, they notify you in writing. You then have 72 hours to waive condition R2.1 and all your other unfulfilled conditions, with proof of funds, or to render your promise null and void. Without an answer, it becomes null.

What it does not allow. Article 1503 of the Code civil du Québec provides that a conditional obligation has full effect when the debtor bound by that condition prevents it from being fulfilled. Taking your house off the market to make your promise fall through may therefore come under that article; your notary or your lawyer will tell you how it applies to your file.

The full mechanics, clause R2.3 included: selling before buying in Quebec, the clauses that decide.

How long will you carry two houses in Laval?

What days on market measure. The APCIQ barometer defines them as the average number of days between the signing of the brokerage contract and the date of sale, and the date of sale as the date the promise to purchase is accepted, which takes effect once all conditions are lifted. The notary comes next: CMHC places the closing date generally 30 to 60 days after the offer to purchase is signed for an existing home.

A sample calendar, calculated. Your purchase becomes firm on day 0, with the deed set for day 45, and you list your house the same day. If it sold in 36 days, the Laval average, and your buyer signed 45 days later, you would own two houses from day 45 to day 81. When both deeds follow the same delay, the overlap equals your days on market. If your sale takes more than 45 days, the purchase deed arrives before it: without a sale agreement signed in time, the bridge loan as TD describes it is not possible, and what remains is the credit line, the second mortgage or two full loans.

Source: Centris real estate statistics for Laval and its neighbourhoods, Auteuil, Chomedey, Duvernay, Fabreville, Laval-des-Rapides, Laval-Ouest, Laval-sur-le-Lac, Pont-Viau, Saint-François, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Sainte-Dorothée, Sainte-Rose and Vimont, third quarter of 2026, meaning July to September. In parentheses, the change over one year, in days for selling times. “n.p.”: not published by Centris, because there are too few transactions.

From 27 to 48 days. Where Centris publishes the quarter, Duvernay is the shortest and Sainte-Dorothée the longest; in the sample calendar, its 48 days push the purchase deed ahead of the sale. Prices and supply in those neighbourhoods: Duvernay and east Laval, Sainte-Dorothée and Laval-Ouest.

More houses competing with yours. Active listings are rising in 8 of the 10 neighbourhoods where Centris publishes the change, up to +72% in Sainte-Rose. An average counts only the houses that sold: one that finds no buyer has no sale date.

Price matters too. Over 12 months, the APCIQ counts 2.8 months of inventory for single family homes in Laval between $470,000 and $790,000, and 7.2 months at $950,000 and up: the time it would take to absorb the inventory at the pace of sales. It is not a selling time, the APCIQ points out.

In your city: Q3 2026 selling times

Same measure, same quarter, for single family homes in the neighbouring cities. Centris publishes no total for Longueuil, Terrebonne or Repentigny: each line is then a sector.

Source: Centris real estate statistics for the island of Montreal, Laval, Longueuil (Le Vieux-Longueuil, Saint-Hubert, Greenfield Park), Brossard, Terrebonne (Terrebonne, Lachenaie, La Plaine), Mascouche, Repentigny (Repentigny, Le Gardeur), Blainville, Mirabel, Saint-Jérôme and Saint-Eustache, third quarter of 2026, meaning July to September. Single family homes only; changes over one year, in days for selling times.

Where the sample calendar overflows. With a purchase deed on day 45, the 51 days on the island of Montreal put the deed ahead of the sale; Brossard (43) is 2 days from the limit; Saint-Eustache (23) and Mascouche (25) have the shortest averages in the table.

Where selling times are getting longer. Le Vieux-Longueuil (+13 days), Mirabel and the Repentigny sector (+12) have a longer average than in the third quarter of 2025. In the Terrebonne sector, sales are down 25% and active listings up 28% over one year: more houses are for sale there.

Selling a condo? The same pages give 57 days in Laval and 67 on the island of Montreal: in the sample calendar, the purchase deed comes before the sale. These figures describe summer 2026, not how long your own sale will take.

The cost of owning two properties at once

The overlap costs what you pay on the old house during those days, plus the interest on the temporary financing. The principal you repay is not part of it: you get it back when you sell. Here is an example calculated for 36 days, with illustrative assumptions, not market rates.

That is about $90 a day: at 48 days, the Sainte-Dorothée average, the total approaches $4,330. Add the lender’s fees, if there are any, and replace each assumption with your own figure. For taxes, use your own bill: Laval’s 2026 budget publishes the increase in the average single family tax bill, 4.3%, not its amount. CMHC lists mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance premiums, utilities, condo fees and repairs among the costs of occupying a home: during the overlap, you pay them for two properties.

Frequently asked questions

Desjardins mortgage bridge loan: what does Desjardins publish? A definition, not a rate schedule: a short-term loan, also called a prêt-pont in French, that pays the down payment and is repaid at the sale. Ask your caisse for the rate, the term and the fees, in writing.

Buying before selling your house in Laval: how long does a bridge loan last? The time between your two deeds, within the limit set by the lender; TD writes that it is usually a maximum of 90 days. In Laval, single family homes sold in 36 days on average in the third quarter of 2026, before the time spent at the notary.

Buying before selling your house in Montreal: are the timelines different? Yes, they are longer on the island: 51 days on average for a single family home in the third quarter of 2026, against 36 in Laval, and 67 for a condo, according to Centris. The longer the timeline, the more likely the purchase deed comes before your sale.

Buying a house before selling yours: what if it doesn’t sell? You carry two houses and two loans until the sale. TD lists this case among the drawbacks of a bridge loan. Before signing, ask your lender what it provides for if the sale runs past the term of the financing.

Buying before selling without a bridge loan: does the seller have to accept my condition? No. Nothing obliges the seller to accept condition R2.1 or a distant deed date: it is a negotiation, just like the price.

To go further, read selling before buying in Quebec: the clauses that decide and the Laval real estate market by sector, and find out how long it takes to sell a house in Laval and whether now is a good time to sell your house in Laval.

Want to know the selling times in your neighbourhood and an estimated market value for your house before you sign an offer elsewhere? I prepare a free comparative market analysis, with the recent sales in your sector. Write to me. Service in French, English and Arabic.

Georges Matar

Residential Real Estate Broker · RE/MAX DU CARTIER INC.

Contact Georges