If you have ever typed "power of sale" into a listing site, looked at the handful of results for a region of 700,000 people, and concluded there is not much out there — you were reading the data correctly and drawing the wrong conclusion.
I have been tracking Power of Sale properties in Durham Region for 30 years. Since July 2026 I have also kept a systematic list of every Power of Sale and estate sale across Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. As of October 1, 2026, 196 of those properties are on the market and not yet sold conditionally: 106 Power of Sale and 90 estate.
Fourteen of them say so publicly.
That is 7%. The other 182 are identifiable only through information available to licensed REALTORS: the name of the seller on record, or remarks written by the listing agent for other agents rather than for the public.
Why most of them stay quiet
There is no conspiracy here, and it is worth understanding the reasons because they tell you something useful about the seller.
A lender exercising Power of Sale in Ontario has a duty to take reasonable steps to obtain fair market value for the property. Advertising "POWER OF SALE" in the public remarks does the opposite — it invites every bargain hunter in the GTA to open below asking. So a lot of institutional sellers simply do not mention it. The listing looks like any other listing. The only tell is the name in the seller field, which the public does not see.
Estates are quieter still, for a different reason. Of the 90 estate properties on the market right now, not one says so publicly. Executors are usually not trying to signal motivation to buyers — they are trying to settle an estate with as little drama as possible, often while managing beneficiaries who disagree about the price. "Estate sale" in the public remarks invites exactly the pressure they are trying to avoid.
So the market you can see is not a small market. It is a small window onto a normal-sized one.
What is actually visible right now
Here is the publicly disclosed portion, as of October 1, 2026.
Power of Sale — 14 properties
- Across Ajax, Brock, Clarington, Oshawa, Pickering and Whitby
- Price range $239,900 to $1,299,990
- Six of the 14 are currently listed below their original asking price
Estate sales — none publicly disclosed
- All 90 estate properties currently on the market are identifiable only through REALTOR-only information
The cheapest publicly advertised Power of Sale property in Durham Region right now is a vacant lot in Brock at $239,900. The entry point in this market is lower than most people assume, largely because land and small condo units turn up in it more often than detached houses do.
The part where I disappoint you
These are not automatically bargains. I want to be direct about that, because the whole category is marketed as though it were.
An Ontario lender has that duty to pursue fair market value. An estate trustee has a parallel duty to the beneficiaries. Neither is permitted to give the property away, and neither wants to. Some of these properties are priced to move quickly. Others are priced at exactly what the comparables support, and you will pay what you would pay for any other house on that street.
Where the value actually sits is narrower and less exciting than the marketing suggests:
Condition. These properties skew toward original condition, deferred maintenance and long vacancies. If you can take on work, that is a real discount available to you and not to the buyer who needs move-in ready. If you cannot, this market has less to offer you than a normal search does.
Less competition. Not because the properties are hidden — the visible ones are on MLS like everything else — but because "as is, where is" and a lender's schedule scare off a meaningful share of buyers. Fewer offers is worth something.
Time. Six of fourteen have already reduced. Properties in this category sit longer, and sitting produces reductions. Patience is the edge more often than cleverness is.
Terms, not price. With an estate, a closing date built around where probate actually stands can be worth more to the seller than a few thousand dollars, and that is negotiating room a prepared buyer can use.
What this means if you are looking
The practical consequence of the 7% figure is that searching for these yourself does not work, and no amount of persistence fixes it. The information that identifies the other 93% is not published anywhere you can reach. It is not a matter of looking harder or knowing the right website.
What I do is run the search across all eight Durham municipalities, on both the public remarks and the REALTOR-only fields, and keep a running list. I publish a summary of the public portion free every month — counts, price ranges, municipalities, no addresses. That is the report this post accompanies.
Registered subscribers get the addresses and listing details for the publicly disclosed properties. The full inventory, including everything identified through REALTOR-only information, goes to clients under a signed representation agreement, because that is the point at which I am permitted to disclose what I know about a property to the person I am acting for.
There is no cost to the monthly list and no obligation attached to it. If it turns out this market does not suit you — and for plenty of buyers it does not — that is a useful thing to learn from a free email rather than from three months of disappointing showings.
Get the free monthly list → Durham Power of Sale & Estate Lists
Figures verified against the MLS® system on October 1, 2026 and refreshed monthly. Counts are properties on the market on that date, excluding those already sold conditionally. Counts cover Durham Region only. This is general information, not legal advice. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract.
Carmine Cupelli, Broker, SRS, CLHM, ABR, SRES, RENE — The Carmine Cupelli Team, RE/MAX Hallmark First Group Realty Ltd., Brokerage · 647-584-7782
