Ruling may release real estate data
‘Decisive victory for competition’ could see home sales histories available online
TORONTO The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal from the Toronto Real Estate Board in a dispute over access to real estate data, a decision expected to open new opportunities to make home sales histories and other market information widely available online.
The country’s largest real estate board had sought to overturn a lower court ruling ordering it to drop restrictions on the display and use of data on its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) website — including the past “sold” prices of homes.
For seven years, a dispute over the issue pitted TREB against the federal Competition Bureau, which argued that the restrictions insulated the board’s realtor members “from a new and potentially disruptive form of competition.”
TREB insisted that publishing sales and other market data online violated client privacy and its own copyright over the information.
The Supreme Court’s decision means TREB will have 60 days to conform to the previous order, initially issued by the Competition Tribunal and later upheld by the Court of Appeal.
The ruling is “a decisive victory for competition, innovation and for consumers,” Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell said in a statement.
The removal of TREB’s “anticompetitive” restrictions will give homebuyers and sellers “greater access to information and innovative real estate services when making one of the most significant financial decisions of their lives,” he said.
In a statement, TREB CEO John DiMichele said the board believes personal financial information must continue to be disclosed in a manner that respects privacy interests and it “will be studying the required next steps to ensure such information will be protected in compliance with the Tribunal Order once that comes into effect.”
Immediately following Thursday’s decision, real estate websites including Zoocasa and HouseSigma began publishing sold prices next to the property listings on their websites.
That’s likely just the beginning, provided no further challenges emerge, said John Andrews, a real estate professor at Queen’s University.
“Within months I expect there will be dozens of websites making this data public, as it should be,” Andrews said. “Knowing what price homes in a neighbourhood sold for is extremely valuable to buyers and sellers when deciding listing prices and bids.”
Real estate boards throughout Canada that currently protect their data will likely also ease restrictions as they follow the powerful Toronto board’s lead, he added.
“They’ve been waiting, letting TREB fight this fight as the largest board in the country and they’re less likely to fight challenges if TREB has opened up. So this will have ramifications right across Canada.”
TREB currently allows its more than 49,000 members to provide individual clients with information on a property ’s previous sales prices — but only via fax, email or in person. It has pushed back against the idea of making that same data available broadly online through broker websites, even when the site is password protected.
Though homebuyers can obtain previous sales histories at land registry offices in exchange for a fee, TREB requires access to occur through a realtor, arguing that it had not sought permission to distribute the data online in the past and acting without it could violate the rights of clients.
“Competition has never been the issue, it was always privacy,” said Cameron Forbes, general manager at Remax Realtron Realty in Toronto.
“The public needs to know that the price at which they buy and sell property will now be very much out there for everyone to see, including their neighbours.”
Proponents of removing the restrictions say selling prices have long been available online in the United States and have actually stimulated home sales there while enabling innovation and improving transparency in real estate transactions.
Lauren Haw, chief executive of Zoocasa, said opening access to Toronto’s data will better allow real estate websites like hers to share analytical products that help consumers better understand the market.
“What this really does is ensure that Canadian consumers are better informed and educated in that early research stage when they are trying to decide if they’re ready to make a move.”
Despite his concerns about privacy, Forbes of Remax believes the change will “level the playing field,” particularly against websites that began quietly publishing sold prices before the Supreme Court announced its judgment.
“Now we all know the rules and we can all play by them,” he said. Financial Post npowell@nationalpost.com Twitter.com/Naomi_Powell
Within months I expect there will be dozens of websites making this data public, as it should be.