Court ruling could end secrecy surrounding home prices

A court ruling Friday could bring an end to a multi-yearfight over who has access to data about how much homes sold for, information that real estate agentshave fought long and hard to keep confidential in a practice that some critics say keeps consumers at a disadvantage.

The Federal Court of Appealis 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, includingthe selling price. The fight over access to that data stretches back to at least 2011.

• From 2011: Competition Bureau sues TREB
• From 2016: TREBordered to open up sales data

The Competition Bureau argues that limiting access to detailed information about home sales how much ahome sold for, agent commissions earned on thesale, and other data should be givenmore freely to consumers in orderto help them makeinformeddecisions.

Under current rules, a prospective buyer or seller must work with a TREB-licensedagentin order to get access to detailed data. That's not the case everywhere, however.In Nova Scotia, for example,ViewPointRealty has turned itself into one of the largest independent brokerages in the provinceby offering its trove of data on every real estate transaction in the province free of charge to consumers.

Others have tried the same, including in Toronto, where some brokers were sending out sales data free of charge before being ordered to stop doing that by TREB last year.

A Competition Tribunal last year ruled in favour of the bureau and ordered the data be made public, but TREBappealed the decision, and the ruling from that higher court is expected Friday.

• Realtors fret court ruling could break lock on secret sales data
• Battle begins over access to real estate sales data

TREBargues they need to be the gate-keepers for housing sale data, telling the court insubmissions that it's concerned about privacy issues if detailed information about real estate was available more freely.

Last year's ruling "opens the door to misuse and abuse of sensitive personal financial information and the content of an Agreement of Purchase and Sale contract that has not closed," said TREB CEO John DiMichele last year. "The consumer has privacy rights and only the consumer should be the one to determine, with clear understanding, when and where their personal financial information is disclosed."

John Pasalis is one brokerwho would welcome more openness and clarity on the issue."Itcertainly will change the way most brokers work," he said in an interview. "You may be able to just sign in and view sold listings on your own."

Pasalis,founder ofRealosophy, says good realtors shouldn't fear the push to more open data. "We think that people should have access to more information to make better decisions," he said. "Ithink it does help businesses like ours."

Torontonian Shashi Khatriis ahome owner who thinks the more information people have at their disposal, the better it will befor everyone. He was trying to sell his home recently, and was shocked at some of the costs incurred for basic services.

Agent commissions'out of step with the times'

"The type of commissions that real estate agents have been charging is out of step with the times," Khatrisaid in an interview. "The function they served back in the dayis now fulfilled by just doing a search online."

He is hoping the court rules in the Competition Bureau's favour because having easier access to more detailed data "empowers the consumers and takes away all this middle man's commission, so it's great."

But regardless of what happens,Friday's ruling likely won't be the end of the story. Both partieshave 60 days to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, which wouldhave final say on the matter.

And while thisbattle may be taking place over Toronto's market, it is expected tohave a broader impact.

"It will probably have ripple effects nationally," Pasalis said. "You'll probably start seeing this with other boards as well."