Years before an estate in Hudson, Que., became famous for selling in the province’s first absolute auction, Tania Ellerbeck and her partner got a taste of what they’ve come to see as an important part of the future of real estate.

Ellerbeck and Marianna Kacsarovszky, both real-estate brokers, held their first auction in 2009 for a client who wanted his home in a gated golf course community sold within three months. Priced at $1.9 million, the home had received a total of five visits during the yearand-a-half it had been on the market, they said.

At the time, the market was quiet and the house had competition from a neighbouring home that was also up for sale.

But minutes after the house was listed for auction with a $999,000 opening bid, the inquiries began to pour in. In a month they received almost 150 groups of visitors and five bids.

“If you look at the traditional real-estate model, the buyer is trying to negotiate the owner’s price down,” says Ellerbeck. “But if you look at an auction, the buyer is looking at ‘how high do I have to go to get this house.’ “

While popular in the United States – especially with all the recent foreclosures -auctions aren’t widespread in Canada.

The sale of residential properties by auction was virtually unheard of in Quebec until an eight-bedroom luxury estate in Hudson was sold to the highest bidder in July. That absolute auction – which means there is no opening bid – generated national headlines not just because it was the first auction of its kind, but also because the winning bidder failed to show up with the cash. That estate is now back on the market.

While some observers dismiss auctions as gimmicks, or a tactic of last resort for hard-to-sell properties, Ellerbeck and Kacsarovszky say they believe auctions will only become more popular in the increasingly diverse Canadian real-estate landscape.

Although they still sell real estate through traditional means, the two Royal LePage brokers recently set up their own company, Auction 30 – a service that markets and sells homes to the highest bidder within 30 days of being published on the Multiple Listing Service website.

The Canadian Real Estate Association said it doesn’t object to brokers holding auctions as long as they follow the required code of ethics.

One of the biggest advantages of auctions is that they save time and holding costs like property taxes, Kacsarovszky said.

In a good market it takes three to six months to sell a well-priced home. Luxury properties usually take more than a year to sell because there are fewer buyers who can afford them.

While that first house they auctioned off in Hudson changed hands long ago, the house next door to it is still up for sale, three years later. The price has dropped to $1.9 million from $2.4 million, Ellerbeck noted.

“For the convenience of it you’re willing to sell it for a little bit less.”