Brokerage Data Request 2023 FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions
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BC Financial Services Authority (“BCFSA”) is requesting information from real estate brokerages about residential sales of existing and newly built residential properties and about the use of the Home Buyer Rescission Period (“HBRP”), or “cooling-off period,” which came into effect January 2023.

BCFSA conducted a data call in 2022 with real estate brokerages to better understand consumer risks in an unbalanced (sellers) market​. The request covered periods in February 2021 and February 2022. More information about the request and results can be found on BCFSA’s website.

BCFSA expects all trading services brokerages to provide the following information from February 19, 2023, to March 18, 2023:

  • Homebuyer rescission notices sent or received by the brokerage (responses required from all trading services brokerages); and
  • Sales of existing residential properties, including re-sale and newly built homes (responses required from listing brokerages only).

If trading services brokerages have no rescission notices or residential sales to report during the requested period (February 19 to March 18, 2023), BCFSA expects them to reply and advise that they have no relevant records (i.e., provide a “nil” response).

To submit information on sales and rescission notices at your brokerage, please review the Brokerage Data Request Instructions, then download and complete the Brokerage Data Request Excel Workbook. Submit the completed workbook by Friday, March 31, 2023.

To support brokerages in completing the Brokerage Data Request, see below for answers to some common questions. Can’t find the information you need? Contact a BCFSA Practice Standards Advisor at [email protected].

  • For this data request, we are using the definition of residential real property in the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation. That definition of residential real property refers to a detached house, a semi-detached house (e.g., duplex), a townhouse, an apartment in a duplex or other multi-unit dwelling, a residential strata lot (condos), a manufactured home that is affixed to land, and a cooperative interest that includes a right of use or occupation of a dwelling.

    Refer to the Home Buyer Rescission Period Information on BCFSA’s Knowledge Base for additional information.

  • You will need to report data on sales of existing and newly built residential real property at your brokerage for the time period of February 19, 2023, to March 18, 2023. This is the same information we requested that you report in 2022 without any past data.

    Please report only on sales with firm contract dates in this time period, and only on transactions where your brokerage was the listing brokerage (i.e., represented the seller). Do not enter information for transactions where your brokerage represented the buyer only. For the purpose of this request, residential real property refers to existing and newly built dwellings including, for example, detached houses, semi-detached houses (e.g., duplexes), townhouses, an apartment in a duplex or other multi-unit dwelling, a residential strata lot (condos), manufactured homes that are affixed to land, and a cooperative interest, that includes a right of use or occupation of a dwelling. These property types correspond to the residential properties subject to the HBRP.

    Consult the BCFSA Knowledge Base for more information about residential real property types.

  • You will need to report data on sales of existing and newly built residential real property at your brokerage for the time period of February 19, 2023, to March 18, 2023.

    Please do not report transactions outside of this scope, such as:

    • Transactions involving unrepresented sellers or where you otherwise represented the buyer;
    • Assignments of the contract of purchase and sale, regardless of whether you represented the assignor or the assignee;
    • Sales of pre-sale units subject to Real Estate Development Marketing Act (“REDMA”) disclosure requirements; and
    • Transactions related to commercial real estate (e.g., sales or multi-year leases involving primarily commercial properties).
  • This is the date on which the contract of purchase and sale became firm. For a subject-free or unconditional offer, this would be the date that the seller accepted the buyer’s offer, regardless of whether the buyer later exercised their right to rescind. For a conditional offer, this would be the date when the buyer (and/or seller) removed all subjects.

    Ensure the firm contract date is between February 19, 2023, and March 18, 2023.

    For clarity, a buyer’s decision to rescind a contract does not impact the “firm contract date”. Brokerages should report all residential real estate transactions, where the brokerage represented the seller, on the “sales spreadsheet,” based on the firm contract date, regardless of whether the contracts were later rescinded.

  • BCFSA has completed a privacy impact assessment and has established appropriate safeguards to protect the information and privacy of the parties to the transaction.

    Under section 74 (1) of the Real Estate Services Rules (“Rules”), a brokerage must allow the Superintendent to review the brokerage’s accounts, financial records and any other records relating to the dealings of the brokerage as a licensee or to the dealings of its related licensees as licensees. The information requested through the data call is limited to information found in records that brokerages must retain under the Real Estate Services Act (“RESA”) and the Rules.

    BCFSA has heard concerns from licensees and industry associations about the collection of personal information through a non-mandatory data call. Though no direct personal information was being sought, BCFSA wants to facilitate the success of the call by provision of the data and has relieved the concern by removing from its request any information that could be used to help infer the identity of an individual (e.g. civic address).  

  • You will need to report information on contracts of purchase and sale that were rescinded by way of a HBRP notice where your brokerage was acting for a buyer, a seller, or both.

  • Collecting time series data improves our understanding of the impact of consumer protection measures and changes in market trends. This data request is also an early check-in on the use of home buyer rescission notices. Data collection supports evidence-informed policy and regulatory decision-making in the public interest.

    By regularly collecting and analyzing data on residential sales, BCFSA will continue to compare year-over-year trends in market conditions and monitor the impact of various changes. The time chosen overlaps with the two time periods previously requested (February 2021 and February 2022).

  • BCFSA will use the data to compare year-over-year trends in market conditions and monitor the impact of various changes including consumer protection measures. The information will also help provide an early assessment of consumers’ use of the HBRP.

    This data helps support BCFSA’s evidence-informed policy and regulatory decision-making. It will allow us to analyze greater factual information about the real estate market, including real estate market practices and consumer risks in different time periods and different parts of the province.

    We will share a summary of the data with industry. Aggregate data about the number of offers and the use of HBRP notices may be provided to the respective local real estate board or association.

  • No, you do not need to inform your clients about the request as no personal information is being collected.

    Under section 74 (1) of the Real Estate Services Rules (“Rules”), a brokerage must allow the Superintendent to review the brokerage’s accounts, financial records and any other records relating to the dealings of the brokerage as a licensee or to the dealings of its related licensees as licensees. Given the voluntary nature of the data request, BCFSA has severed any information that could become “personal information” when combined with other publicly available information.

  • BCFSA does not have access to the MLS system. Additionally, while the MLS system contains some of the data being requested, it does not contain information about offers or rescission notices.

  • BCFSA expects brokerages to respond to the request. We have intentionally limited the scope of this request to help keep it manageable for brokerages, while still providing the data we need.

    Most of the information that we are requesting falls under the brokerage record-keeping requirements set out in RESA and the Rules. Brokerages are expected to have this information available.

    By responding fully to this request, you can help demonstrate to government and the public that the real estate industry has an important role to play in consumer protection, by sharing information that helps tell the story of B.C.’s real estate market activity.

  • There is an expectation that brokerages will report data requested by BCFSA.

    Brokerages will not be disciplined if they do not respond to the request. However, BCFSA may consider the necessity of bringing in more formal reporting requirements if response rates are low. The information is being requested to provide information for our policy and regulatory decision-making as well as the development of education and other regulatory materials.

    We appreciate your best efforts to respond to the request.

  • Your brokerage head office should submit one workbook for the entire brokerage, including any branch offices. Work with the managing broker at the head office to report the applicable transactions as part of your brokerage’s single response. Because branch offices are licensed separately from a brokerage head office, the workbook requests the licence number for each sale or rescission notice.

  • No, you only need to submit the completed Excel workbook which includes two spreadsheets: residential sales and HBRP notices. Be sure to complete both spreadsheets.

  • If you have no residential real property sales to report in the time period (i.e., February 19, 2023, to March 18, 2023), send an email to [email protected] indicating “nil sales response” or write “nil sales” in the sales spreadsheet.

  • If you have not represented any party where the contract of purchase and sale was rescinded by a home buyer rescission notice during this period, send an email to [email protected] indicating “nil HBRP notice response” or write “nil HBRP notice” in the spreadsheet associated with home buyer rescission notices.

  • Contact BCFSA’s Practice Standards Advisors:

    • Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at (604) 660-3555 (local) or (866) 206-3030 (toll-free); or
    • By email at [email protected].