You may have noticed a story in your favoured news source back in February about the Canadian Competition Bureau filing a motion to take the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) to the Canadian Competition Tribunal. In short, the Competition Bureau has targeted CREA for the practice of not allowing prospective sellers to list their home on the MLS system unless the seller signs on for the full real estate agent service, including commission, which the Competition Bureau labels an "anti-competitive practice". To which the CREA has responded.
If you have bought or sold a home in the last few years, you are no doubt aware of the MLS site. If you have not bought or sold a home in the last few years, I'll describe the MLS site as an essential part of the process. This proceeding has the potential to fundamentally shift the buying and selling of real estate in Canada which is a multi-billion dollar segment of the Canadian economy. The Competition Tribunal has yet to set a date but the filing itself is available as is the location where you follow the case details as they develop. This case is interesting as it seems to me that the Internet is a catalyst in this case as the MLS service has existed for many years but has become a home buying/selling essential with the interweb as a platform. In essence the challenge is stating that not allowing sellers to access this wildly popular website/service is an anti-competitive practice. I'm eager to see what the courts have to say and to see the potential impact on other aspects of Internet services.
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Too bad this didn't happen earlier before the CREA closed down the housing123.com website (a mashup of the MLS listing with Google Maps). See my blog post from a couple years ago: http://www.slaw.ca/2008/06/24/mls-closes-down-real-estate-mash-up-site/
I wonder what the Competition Tribunal would think of this mashup, and if there is any chance of having it reinstated?
I always thought the CREA should have tried supporting it rather than sending a cease and desist letter.
Update: Today CREA voting on proposed changes to address Competition Bureau's concerns: http://bit.ly/baiHO2
Follow on this – CREA proposed to allow realtors to charge a flat fee just to post listings on MLS. Still doesn't solve the problem. It's nothing new, there are already realtors out there that does this anyway. It's true, there are some realtors that are worth what they charge for "full" commission. This new rule will hopefully weed out the bad ones who just list on MLS and call it a day. It will definitely force many realtors to reconsider how they do business. But I do hope the Competition Bureau continues the fight.