CMA
The BrokerFold Team — Product + Engineering
Last reviewed
A CMA — comparative market analysis — is an agent’s estimate of what a home would sell for right now, built by comparing it against recent sales of similar nearby properties. It is the standard instrument of listing-price decisions in Canadian real estate: not an appraisal, not an algorithm, but a professional’s structured argument about value.
What goes into one
The craft is in the comparables. An agent pulls recent solds that genuinely resemble the subject property — location, size, type, lot, condition — then adjusts for the differences: a renovated kitchen here, a busier street there, a market that has moved since the comp closed. Active listings join the file as the competition a seller would face, and expired attempts as evidence of where the market said no. The output is usually a range with a recommendation, and the reasoning matters as much as the number — a defensible CMA is what keeps a seller from testing a fantasy price for six weeks. Timing discipline separates good analyses from decorative ones: comps more than a few months old get re-weighed against wherever the market has moved since they closed.
Where it sits among the valuation tools
Against an appraisal, a CMA is advisory: appraisals are formal, regulated valuations that lenders rely on, while a CMA guides strategy. Against an algorithmic estimate, it is human: models compute from data at scale, agents inspect and judge — the trade-offs run through AVM vs CMA. And against the tax roll, it is current, which is the whole distinction explained in assessed value vs market value. The raw material for all of it is access to sold data — an analysis is only as strong as the comparables behind it.
The CMA as a website engine
“What’s my home worth?” is the highest-intent question a seller types, which makes the CMA offer the workhorse of seller lead generation. A dedicated page that trades a genuine, human-prepared analysis for contact details converts precisely because it promises judgment rather than an instant number — the build pattern is on CMA request pages. The agents who win that lead are the ones whose follow-up analysis actually lands within days, with comps the seller recognizes.
Frequently asked questions
Is a CMA free?
Almost always. Agents prepare CMAs at no charge because the analysis is the natural doorway to a listing appointment — the seller gets a genuine pricing opinion, the agent gets the conversation. Treat a paid CMA as the exception that needs explaining.
How is a CMA different from a property assessment?
An assessment is a mass-produced government valuation used to calculate property tax, often based on a valuation date well in the past. A CMA is a current, property-specific opinion of market value. In a moving market the two can sit far apart, and neither is wrong — they answer different questions.
Keep reading
- CMA request page What a CMA request page is, why the free home evaluation still beats any instant number, and how to run one that fills your listing pipeline.
- AVM vs CMA Instant AVM or agent CMA on your website? What each is honestly good for, and the hybrid that converts sellers without pretending to be an appraisal.
- Sold data Sold data is the record of what properties actually sold for. Where it lives in Canada, who may display it, and how a VOW puts it on your website.
- Assessed value vs market value Why MPAC and BC Assessment numbers rarely match what a home sells for — what assessed value is for, and what to use when pricing instead.