A court ruling Friday, December 1, could bring an end to a multi-year fight over who has access to data about how much homes sold for, information that real estate agents have fought long and hard to keep confidential in a practice that some critics say keeps consumers at a disadvantage.
The Federal Court of Appeal is expected to rule on Friday in a case between Canada’s Competition Bureau and the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).
At issue is confidential information about homes that have been sold, including the selling price. The fight over access to that data stretches back to at least 2011.
The Competition Bureau argues that limiting access to detailed information about home sales — how much a home sold for, agent commissions earned on the sale, and other data — should be given more freely to consumers in order to help them make informed decisions.
Under current rules, a prospective buyer or seller must work with a TREB-licensed agent in order to get access to detailed data. That’s not the case everywhere, however. In Nova Scotia, for example, ViewPoint Realty has turned itself into one of the largest independent brokerages in the province by offering its trove of data on every real estate transaction in the province free of charge to consumers.
Full Content: The Star
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Google Faces DOJ Antitrust Trial, Publishers Watch Closely for Impact on Ad Market
Sep 9, 2024 by
CPI
India Moves to Challenge Big Tech Power in Digital Markets
Sep 9, 2024 by
CPI
US Tightens Grip on AI: New Reporting Rules for Developers and Cloud Providers
Sep 9, 2024 by
CPI
EU Court to Decide Apple’s €13bn Tax Battle
Sep 9, 2024 by
CPI
Google Lawyer Kevin Yingling Joins Freshfields Amid Antitrust Fight
Sep 9, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Canada & Mexico
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Competitive Convergence: Mexico’s 30-Year Quest for Antitrust Parity with its Northern Neighbor
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Competition and Digital Markets in North America: A Comparative Study of Antitrust Investigations in Mexico and the United States
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
Recent Antitrust Development in Mexico: COFECE’s Preliminary Report on Amazon and Mercado Libre
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI
The Cost of Making COFECE Disappear
Sep 3, 2024 by
CPI