In a significant regulatory victory, Canada’s Competition Bureau has reached a settlement with Quebec’s Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB), requiring the organization to loosen restrictive data-sharing practices that violated the Competition Act.
The bureau found that QPAREB and its subsidiary, Société Centris, violated abuse of dominance rules by refusing to provide members with access to real estate data feeds containing sale prices, listing history, and property characteristics. The watchdog determined these restrictions were designed to “impede innovation and limit competition in the real estate brokerage services market.”
Under the consent agreement, QPAREB must now provide members with comprehensive real estate data—a move that mirrors the Competition Bureau’s 2023 investigation into the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), which challenged similar data-sharing restrictions in the GTA market.
For GTA real estate professionals and consumers, this Quebec settlement signals momentum toward greater data transparency across Canada’s real estate industry. Increased data access typically fosters innovation, competitive pricing, and better tools for agents and buyers alike.
QPAREB noted the agreement was tailored to Quebec’s stricter personal information protection laws, suggesting similar solutions may differ for other provinces.
Read the full story on BNNBloomberg.ca
Source: Read the original article
