Toronto Real Estate Board data release attracts more attention

TORONTO — Real estate boards across Canada are mulling the release of home sales data online after the Toronto Real Estate Board began permitting such numbers to be published on password-protected websites Tuesday.

Calgary, Greater Moncton and B.C.’s Fraser Valley were among a handful of real estate boards that said they were looking toward the Greater Toronto Area to decide how their own region should tackle the contentious issue that involved seven years of fighting at three judicial bodies. The Toronto said it wanted to keep the data under wraps because of privacy and copyright concerns.

The battle, which began after the Competition Bureau alleged in 2011 that preventing publication of the data was anti-competitive, ended in August when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case. The Toronto board took a few weeks to work out how real estate agents could publish the numbers, before giving them the go-ahead Tuesday.

Alan Tennant, chief executive of the Calgary Real Estate Board, said he watched the case intently, knowing it would likely have ramifications on how his board handled the issue.

The Calgary board is doing an analysis of how releasing sales data would affect its policies, but has no intention of fighting the release of the data on passwordprotected websites.

John Barbisan, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, said he has watched the Toronto board encounter “growing pains” as it figured out how it would allow data to be released.

Barbisan doesn’t think the issues the Toronto board faced will be different than what his region might encounter, but said his board intends to “take the high road” and look at how it can release the data. “I am sure it is going to be coming our way and we are making efforts to prepare for it.”