The Competition Bureau has obtained a court order to gather information from Greater Vancouver Realtors (GVR) and advance its ongoing investigation into real estate commission rules in Canada.

These rules dictate how real estate agents are paid, who pays them, and how those payments must be disclosed on multiple listing service (MLS) systems.

The Bureau is investigating whether the commission rules and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) may contravene the abuse of dominance or other civil provisions of the Competition Act.

When the investigation began in 2024, the Bureau focused on CREA policies and how rules may impact competition among real estate agents. Under these rules, the seller’s agent must offer compensation to the buyer’s agent when a property is listed on an MLS system.

The investigation has now expanded its scope to examine GVR’s enforcement in the Greater Vancouver market. GVR, formerly the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, represents more than 15,000 real estate professionals and is one of CREA’s largest member boards.

The Bureau aims to determine whether rules discourage buyers’ agents from competing by offering lower commission rates or alternative pricing models, encourage “steering,” a practice in which agents are motivated to guide buyers toward homes with higher commissions, and affect competition in other ways, potentially resulting in higher costs for both buyers and sellers.