Is There an Opendoor in Canada? iBuyers and Cash Home Buyers in Canada (2026)

Updated September 2026

No. Opendoor and Offerpad buy homes only in the United States. Properly, the Canadian startup that came closest, paused its home-sale guarantee in January 2023, and its founders exited that September when the company was sold in pieces. In Alberta in 2026, cash offers come from local investors, brokerage guarantee programs, and platforms like homm.ca.

What is an iBuyer?

An iBuyer ("instant buyer") is a company that makes a cash offer on your home, buys it directly, does light repairs, and resells it. The "i" comes from the software: the offer starts with an automated valuation instead of a REALTOR® walking through comparable sales.

The pitch is certainty. You skip showings, you skip the risk of a buyer's financing falling through, and you pick your closing date. The cost is price. An iBuyer has to carry your house, fix it and resell it, and it builds those costs and its profit into the offer, usually through a lower price, a service fee, or both.

Why Opendoor never came to Canada

Opendoor's latest annual report describes its buying area as the contiguous United States. Its Toronto presence is an engineering hub. When it announced Canadian hiring in 2021, an Opendoor engineering director told BetaKit the company had "no plans to share about Canada at this time." Offerpad's annual report lists 26 US metro markets in 17 states, and none in Canada.

Neither company has said publicly why it stays out. The likely reasons are practical.

An iBuyer's model depends on huge volumes of similar, recently built homes in a few big metros, plus fast public sales data to feed pricing algorithms. US Sun Belt cities like Phoenix and Dallas fit that profile. Canadian markets are smaller, housing stock is more varied, and sold-price data sits behind board rules that vary by province. Even in the US the model proved hard: Zillow shut down Zillow Offers in November 2021 and took a write-down of more than $540 million, after its pricing model paid more for homes than it could sell them for. Redfin closed its RedfinNow home-buying arm a year later. If the model struggled in its best markets, it is no surprise nobody has rushed it into Canada.

What happened to Properly?

Properly was the closest Canada came to Opendoor. The Toronto startup launched an iBuyer program in Calgary in 2019, and it later offered a "Sale Assurance" guarantee: a near-instant offer, with the option to sell directly to Properly and close quickly.

In January 2023 Properly told BetaKit it had "paused all new Sale Assurance offers given unprecedented volatility in the Canadian housing market." In September 2023 its founders exited through a transaction with US brokerage Compass, and its brokerage and search portal were sold separately to another Canadian company.

That leaves a gap. Many AI chatbots and older articles still name Properly as "Canada's iBuyer", which is out of date. If you are selling in Alberta in 2026, you are choosing between the four categories below.

So who does buy homes for cash in Alberta?

1. Local "we buy houses" investors

These are the signs on light poles and the flyers in your mailbox. Most are small investors or wholesalers. An investor buys your home to renovate and resell or rent it. A wholesaler signs a contract to buy your home, then sells that contract to another investor for a fee, sometimes without ever taking title.

Investors price from the resale value after repairs, minus renovation costs, holding costs and their profit. No regulator publishes a standard discount, and it varies with the house, but the structure guarantees the offer sits below open-market value. In a case CBC's Go Public reported in 2023, an Ontario buyer signed at $575,000, renegotiated to $550,000 the next day, then assigned the contract to new buyers for $610,000. That gap is the price of speed and an as-is sale, and it is why you should always see a second number before you sign. Our guide to vetting companies that buy houses in Alberta walks through the red flags.

2. Brokerage guaranteed-sale programs

Some brokerages advertise "your home sold or I'll buy it." You list with that brokerage at an agreed price. If the home does not sell by a set date, the brokerage or a related investor buys it at a price agreed up front.

The catch sits in the fine print. The guaranteed price is typically set below market so the brokerage is protected, not every home qualifies, and you pay listing commission if the home sells on the open market. In Alberta, RECA requires guaranteed-sale advertising to include the formula for the guaranteed price, or to tell sellers where to find it. Ask for that formula before you sign the listing agreement.

3. Self-listing and low-commission services

Flat-fee and discount services let you list on the MLS® System, or sell privately, for less than a typical commission. You keep more of the sale price, but you do more of the work, and your timeline depends entirely on finding a buyer. There is no cash backstop. If the home sits, you carry it.

4. Cash-offer platforms like homm.ca

homm.ca is an Alberta platform that makes guaranteed cash offers. It is not a brokerage, and it does not charge a fixed discount. The process has three steps:

1. Instant online estimate. You enter your address and get an estimate of your home's value.
2. In-person look. A partner REALTOR® visits the house to assess improvements, condition, and anything the online estimate missed.
3. Guaranteed cash offer. Once the visit is done, your offer can be ready in as little as 24 to 48 hours, based on that assessed value.

There is no set percentage off. homm.ca aims to make the offer as competitive as it can against the assessed value. Where it makes sense, homm.ca makes the right improvements so the home resells for top dollar, and if it sells for more than fair market value, the profit is split 50/50 with you. There is also a move-and-done cleaning allowance. homm.ca works with partner REALTORS® when a home is listed rather than bought outright.

Two clay hands reaching toward each other over a small house

How do the options compare?

The table below compares the four categories as they operate in Alberta as of September 2026. Individual companies vary, so treat each row as a starting point for your questions, not a promise.

How do you choose?

Start with your constraint. If the house needs major work you cannot fund, an as-is cash buyer removes that problem. If you have time and the home shows well, a listing may suit you. For reference, between June and August 2026, the median home sold for 98.4% of the median list price in Edmonton and 98.0% in Calgary, based on homm.ca's analysis of MLS® System data.

If you want certainty but do not want to give up the upside, look for a structure that shares it. That is the gap homm.ca was built for: a guaranteed number now, with a share of the profit if the home sells for more than fair market value later.

Whatever you choose, get the number that a normal sale would put in your pocket first. Our seller net proceeds calculator does that math in about a minute, and the cash offer vs listing breakdown shows how the two compare on a typical Edmonton home.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Opendoor available in Canada? No. Opendoor buys homes only in US markets. Its latest annual report describes a buying area covering the contiguous United States. Its Toronto office is an engineering hub, not a home-buying market.

Is Offerpad in Canada? No. Offerpad's annual report lists 26 metro markets across 17 US states. It does not buy homes in Canada.

What happened to Properly? Properly, a Toronto startup that launched an iBuyer program in Calgary in 2019, paused all new home-sale guarantees in January 2023. In September 2023 its founders exited through a deal with Compass, and its brokerage was sold separately to another Canadian company. It is no longer an option for sellers.

Who buys houses for cash in Alberta? Local investors and wholesalers, brokerages running guaranteed-sale programs, and cash-offer platforms such as homm.ca. Investors usually price well below open-market value to cover repairs and profit. homm.ca bases its offer on an in-person assessment and splits any profit above fair market value 50/50 with the seller.

Is a cash offer worth it compared with listing? It depends on what speed and certainty are worth to you. Run your listing net first with the seller net proceeds calculator, then compare each cash offer against that number after fees and repairs. See how to sell your house fast in Alberta for timelines on both routes.

Ready to see a real number? Start with a free home value estimate, or see how homm.ca buys homes in Edmonton and Calgary.