In Toronto new access to information is opening new possibilities for real estate, and could be representative of the changes that need to happen in the US market. US multifamily developers are screaming for access to better data to support future strategy, innovation and risk.

Realtor Daniel Steinfeld has wanted to post home sales data on his business’s password-protected website for as long as he can remember, but it took a seven-year court battle between the Competition Bureau and the Toronto Real Estate Board for him and other realtors to land the right to publish the numbers.

Steinfeld, the owner of On the Block Realty and an online real estate auction platform that prevents blind bidding, is still working to get the information posted on his website, but he and other realtors think the right to publish the numbers could open the door to increased innovation in the Canadian real estate market.

“The more the barriers come down and access improves, it reduces people’s tentativeness in trying to do more,” said Steinfeld.

“Real estate is one of those weird industries that hasn’t seen a considerable amount of change in years and years and years. Releasing sales data isn’t really an innovation, but access to information and how you can use it is really what people are looking for and more and more people are going to find ways to do that.”

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