Competition Bureau advances investigation into the Canadian Real Estate Association’s policies

News release

The Bureau is also seeking information from the public about their experiences with real estate commissions and alternative listing services

October 3, 2024 – GATINEAU, (Québec), Competition Bureau

The Competition Bureau has obtained a court order to advance its investigation into potential anti-competitive conduct by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) related to rules about real estate commissions and the REALTOR® Cooperation Policy.

The order, granted by the Federal Court, requires CREA to produce records and information relevant to the Bureau's investigation.

The Bureau is investigating if CREA’s commission rules discourage buyers’ realtors from competing to offer lower commission rates or affect competition in other ways, which could result in less competition and higher costs for both buyers and sellers.

The Bureau is also looking to determine if CREA’s Realtor Cooperation Policy makes it more difficult for alternative listing services to compete, reduces competition among realtors, or gives larger real estate brokerages an unfair advantage over smaller ones.

The investigation is ongoing and there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time.

CREA is one of Canada's largest single-industry associations, representing over 160,000 real estate professionals.

Seeking voluntary information from the public

The Bureau is also inviting Canadians – home buyers, sellers, realtors and other market participants – to share their experiences with real estate commissions and CREA’s policies in the Canadian real estate market. The feedback will help the Bureau assess if CREA’s commission rules or Realtor Cooperation Policy raise issues under the law.

People interested can consult the call-out details on the Bureau’s website, and are invited to provide their feedback by November 6, 2024. All the information received will be thoroughly reviewed and considered, and will be kept confidential, subject to certain exceptions.

Quick facts

The Bureau is investigating whether CREA has engaged in conduct contrary to the abuse of dominance or other provisions of the Competition Act.
Alternative listing services are platforms that provide an alternative to traditional Multiple Listing Services (MLS) systems for listing and marketing real estate properties.
CREA’s commission rules require that sellers’ agents offer compensation to the buyers’ agents for properties listed on an MLS system.
The Realtor Cooperation Policy requires that residential real estate listings be placed on an MLS system within three days of the listing being marketed to the public, with some exceptions.
Licenced real estate agents, salespeople, and brokers that are members of CREA are known as Realtors.
In 2010, the Bureau reached an agreement with CREA to address concerns that MLS system rules restricted consumer choice and prevented innovative business models from emerging. As a result, CREA changed its MLS rules to clarify that the nature of services to be provided to the seller or buyer is a matter of agreement between the realtors and their clients.
In 2016, the Competition Tribunal ruled in favour of the Bureau in its case against the Toronto Real Estate Board relating to anti-competitive conduct that restricted real estate brokers’ and consumers’ access to historical home sales data and novel real estate services.

Associated links

Contacts

Media inquiries:
Media Relations
Email: media-cb-bc@cb-bc.gc.ca

General information:
Request for information | Complaint form

The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. Competition drives lower prices and innovation while fuelling economic growth.

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Date modified:: 2024-10-03

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