The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision ordering the largest realtor group in the country to make detailed financial information about home sales more open to the public.
In a ruling announced Friday, the court upheld a previous decision in favour of the Competition Bureau in its case against the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).
The competition watchdog said the realtor group’s practice of keeping information about home sale prices and realtor commissions secret is anti-competitive and bad for consumers. TREB, for its part, cites privacy concerns for why it should be the gatekeeper for such information.
A lower court found in the bureau’s favour, but TREB appealed.
The ruling could open the door to businesses and websites offering much more detailed information about home sales to the public, without having to sign a contract to work with a realtor on commission.
The decision does not bring an end to the dispute that dates back years, however. TREB now has 60 days to seek leave to appeal its case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The real estate estate board has not yet responded to CBC’s request for comment on the case.
Toronto realtor and president of Realosophy John Pasalis said he would welcome more openness and transparency when it comes to the amount of market data the public has readily available to them.
“There’s nothing to fear from this for a good realtor but there’s a lot for bad realtors to fear,” he said in an interview. Pasalis’ firm has been pushing to make sales information available free of charge on his website for a while, as it is in other jurisdictions.
He said not only would it make for better-informed consumers, it would also allow him to do more, “detailed research for our customers.”
“If your only advantage is giving [data on recent home sales] you’re going to have a hard time competing tomorrow,” Pasalis said. “It’s going to raise the bar in our industry.”