During last year’s election campaign, the Liberal party proposed a ban on “blind bidding” for homes. In the current system used across the country, the buyer's offer are kept secret during the bidding process.
Blind bidding has been partly blamed for accelerating price gains in a hot market, with properties sometimes selling for hundreds of thousands over the asking price. Some argue that secret bidding forces each potential buyer to offer as much as they can.
The industry body for Canada's real estate agents has now backed away from its defence of the practice.
The Canadian Real Estate Association announced a pilot project to display offers in real time on properties listed on its own listing website, realtor.ca.
“Multiple-offer scenarios have become an increasingly commonplace in today’s real estate environment,” Michael Bourque, the association’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Canadian property buyers and sellers seek greater confidence in the process.” The press recently announced that the pilot test will begin in select markets in the summer of 2022.
What the future holds for blind-bidding in this country, we are still unsure. But Canada could soon adopt a new way on the way we buy and sell real estate.
