Home-Sales Data now publicly available
After a seven year legal battle the Supreme Court of Canada moved to allow home-sales data publicly available in spite of the Toronto Real Estate Board wanting to keep the data private.
Within hours, eal estate brokerages such as Condos.ca were already making the data available.
Real estate companies can display the sale price of homes as long as their websites are password protected. This will make it easier for consumers to look up sale prices instead of relying on their agent.
What happens for consumers:
There were some real estate businesses putting the data on their website until receiving a “cease -and- desist “ letter from the Toronto Real Estate Board who determines what real estate information is allowed to be made public. Now everybody is on the same playing field.
Consumers will be able to watch the market, see what other houses sold for in specific areas and do their own research which will help them come to their own conclusions.
This practice has been available in the United States for more than a decade. This new ruling will help United States-based Zillow Group who have recently entered the Canadian market and also British based no-commission online realtor Purple-bricks PLC. They will be a big competitor.
Adapted by Rachelle Younglai, Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-supreme-courts-refusal-to-hear-trebs-home-sales-data-appeal-levels/
