The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA), with support from the province’s real estate boards, has published a white paper offering sweeping recommendations to address ongoing BC housing market challenges.

Entitled, A Better Way Home: Strengthening Consumer Protection in Real Estate, the white paper offers more than 30 recommendations spanning four areas: housing supply issues, consumer protection in real estate transactions, the evolving real estate sector, and the creation of a world-leading regulatory structure.

The paper incorporates findings from seven focus groups with consumers and realtors, years of survey data, and a detailed analysis of economic and secondary literature featuring housing market interventions that have been attempted worldwide.

“BCREA shares consumer and government concerns that current housing market conditions are untenable,” said BCREA Chief Executive Officer Darlene K. Hyde. “Our recommendations include long-term measures to create more housing options for British Columbians, as well as immediate steps to give consumers in the market today more peace of mind. As the voice of BC’s 24,000 Realtors, we want consumers to have full confidence in real estate transactions.”

BCREA’s recommendations to support consumer confidence in real estate transactions include:

• Giving buyers time to research a property before making an offer by introducing a mandatory “pre-offer period” of a minimum of five business days from when a property is first listed. During this period, offers cannot be made;
• Helping consumers make more informed decisions in multiple offer scenarios by collaborating with real estate sector stakeholders to establish a process that balances offer transparency for buyers with privacy concerns;
• Ensuring prospective buyers have immediate access to relevant information by making property disclosure statements mandatory and available upon listing;
• Mandating that all documents related to strata transactions are made available with the listing, including strata bylaws, depreciation reports, status of contingency funds, strata council correspondence and the Form B;
• Raising entry qualification standards for new licensees to ensure consumers are supported by a profession that is evolving along with the changing market.

While A Better Way Home is based on years of feedback, data and market analysis collected by BCREA and regional real estate boards, the group maintains it was published in response to the government’s announced plans to introduce a mandatory “cooling off period” in real estate transactions as soon as this spring.

“A ‘cooling off period’ is not the answer to alleviating the stresses consumers are currently facing in real estate transactions,” said Hyde. “It won’t stand the test of changing market conditions, regional market differences and doesn’t equally serve buyers and sellers. It also does nothing to address the root of BC’s housing affordability problem; namely, lack of supply.”

According to BCREA, an analysis of “cooling off periods” in other global jurisdictions has shown the policy to be ineffectual at best. The provincial government announced plans for a “cooling off period” in real estate transactions on November 4, 2021, without broad consultation with the housing sector. BCREA says it strongly believes that consumer interests are best served when the government invites in-depth input from housing sector stakeholders before announcing potential policies.

“With access to extensive data and expert analysis on housing market conditions, on-the-ground insights into consumer experience, close working relationships with other housing sector stakeholders, and a commitment to enhancing consumer confidence in the Realtor profession, BCREA is uniquely positioned to support the government in identifying a ‘better way home’ for all British Columbians,” said Hyde.

Click here to downloadwhite paper and view the full list of recommendations