The Competition Bureau says it has obtained a court order to expand its ongoing investigation into potential anti-competitive conduct in Canada’s real estate sector to include Greater Vancouver Realtors.
The bureau initially launched the probe in 2024, focusing on whether the Canadian Real Estate Association’s rules discourage realtors from offering lower commission rates or affect competition in other ways.
The scope of the investigation also included the question of whether CREA’s agent co-operation policy makes it harder for alternative listing services to compete with the major players or gives larger brokerages an unfair advantage over smaller ones.
The bureau says it is widening the investigation to determine how Vancouver’s real estate board enforces commission rules, including whether such policies discourage buyers’ agents from competing by offering lower commission rates or alternative pricing models….