Increasingly, buyers in the real estate market are being encouraged to enter a bidding process.

It’s resulted in a number of homes being sold in the metro area for tens of thousands above the asking price.

While it’s good for sellers and agents, the process can make it trickier for anyone trying to buy a home.

The CEO of the Newfoundland and Labrador Realtors Association, Bill Stirling, says the practice has been adopted from the mainland to make the process more transparent.

Stirling says a seller’s market with limited inventory means anyone who wants to buy has to be ready to move quickly when a property comes up for sale.

“For the first time in a long time, buyers need to be prepared to move very quickly,” says Stirling. “If they see a property that they like, they need to be prepared to move very quickly. They don’t have the luxury of time that we used to have here, where buyers could shop around.”