The Canadian Real Estate Association has announced a pilot project that will display real-time tracking of offers on REALTOR.ca listings, according to statement released last week.
To power this capability, the CREA will integrate Openn Offers, an Australian offer management software provided by property technology company Openn Negotiations, with REALTOR.ca.
According to the press release, the real-time bid tracking capabilities will be a first for any Canadian real estate platform.
“Multiple offer scenarios have become increasingly commonplace in today’s real estate environment,” Michael Bourque, CREA’s CEO, said in a statement. “Canadian property buyers and sellers seek greater confidence in the process, while Canadian Realtors seek tools to enable and more easily manage these situations.”
Details surrounding the real-time bid tracking capabilities are fuzzy as, in most provinces, there are explicit regulations against the concept of open and transparent bidding in real estate.
Home buyers and sellers have come to rely on informational features such as transaction history including sold data, multimedia, realtor ratings and reviews, and neighborhood and market intelligence. The CREA stated that this integration with Openn Offers will help the organization further build out the data points offered on REALTOR.ca.
“Through six-plus years of development, execution, and innovation in the Australian market, we have proven that both the real estate professional and consumer benefit greatly from enhanced transparency,” Duncan Anderson, the executive director of Openn and president of Openn North America, said in a statement.
The pilot program is scheduled to begin this summer in select markets across Canada.
“This opportunity is well-timed and well-suited for our market,” Jeff King, the CEO of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, said in a statement.
The CREA’s announcement came just one day before the federal budget was released in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated his campaign promise to create a “homebuyers bill of rights” and work with the provinces to find a way to legally end what is known as “blind bidding” in real estate sales.
