Sam Cooper
The Province
Metro Vancouver realtors will likely fall in line with major data sharing changes that have been forced on Toronto realtors in a competition ruling, Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board President Dan Morrison said Thursday.
Weeks ago, the federal Competition Tribunal ordered the Toronto Real Estate Board to release proprietary Multiple Listing Service sales data to consumers online.
Homebuyers in Toronto will now be able to access historical sales data that was tightly guarded by realtors in ways that stifled competition, according to a ruling. The new information should give consumers a better idea of the long-term value of properties compared to current asking prices, experts say, and help them avoid bidding wars that are encouraged under the current system.
Some analysts say consumer-friendly changes in Ontario could mark a long-predicted moment of disruption for Canada’s real estate industry, and Vancouver’s red-hot market. The most aggressive predictions envision consumers eventually using technology to directly buy and sell homes through an open MLS system.
Toronto realtors have fought to protect their MLS sales data for years, and say they will appeal the ruling.
Morrison said that if the competition order is upheld in Toronto, Vancouver realtors would also release MLS data, but he could not give a timeline for changes.
“I can’t imagine we wouldn’t support a major change like this,” he said. “But I’m not sure I agree that this (ruling) is the thin edge of the wedge in terms of going to a fully open MLS system.”
Surrey realtor Mayur Arora believes the Ontario ruling means B.C. consumers will be paying lower commissions for transactions, and general secrecy around many deals that critics say fuels market-inflating bidding wars could be reduced.
In one example, Arora says he is aware of realtors who tell prospective buyers that many offers have been made on a home, encouraging higher offers. In some cases, Arora says, multiple offers are “greatly exaggerated” or may not even exist. Also, some consumers and realtors say there are cases where properties don’t make it to the open market and the highest bid may not win, for reasons only known by realtors.
In the future, Arora said he can envision all listings being publicly marketed on the MLS system, and disclosure rules that would make all offers officially recorded. Ultimately, Arora believes fewer realtors will be working in B.C. due to technology and increased powers for consumers.
“I think we are on the cusp of a huge shakeup in the industry, and this ruling is the catalyst,” Arora said. “If you remember in the 1990s there were travel agents on every street corner — where did they go?”
Arora’s prediction won’t be popular with many realtors, but he is already a controversial figure. He says he faced a death-threat from an anonymous caller claiming to be a Surrey realtor in 2010, when Arora introduced a comparatively low, flat-fee commission plan for MLS system sales.
There will be continued resistance to greater MLS data sharing and lower realtor fees, Arora says, but the forces of change in B.C. have never been greater, since consumers are already angered by reports of shady dealings in Metro Vancouver’s skyrocketing markets. B.C.’s Superintendent of Real Estate Carolyn Rogers has acknowledged consumers have reason to
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