Canada's Competition Bureau announced on May 27, 2011 that the Commissioner of Competition had filed an application with the Competition Tribunal alleging an abuse of dominance by the Toronto Real Estate Board in the market for residential real estate brokerage services. According to the Commissioner's application, TREB member brokers have access to detailed information about properties listed on the TREB multiple listing service (which lists almost all properties for sale in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA), such as historical prices, comparables, etc. Members of the TREB, however, are not permitted to provide their customers with direct access to the complete TREB MLS, nor to disseminate the more detailed information to their customers via searchable websites. The Commissioner alleges that such rules effectively prevent on-line brokerages from competing in the GTA as they do in the United States and Nova Scotia, for example. The allegations in the Commissioner's application are unproven, and no response has been filed.
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