EOs and presidents of Ontario's four largest boards sign the agreement

Ontario’s four largest real estate boards have signed an agreement to share real-time access to each others’ MLS listing information.

The Connect project is a joint venture of the Toronto Real Estate Board, the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington, the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors and the Ottawa Real Estate Board. It offers members the ability to search and view the active listings and recent sales history of all other participating organizations in their own local MLS format, without the complexities or security risks of actual data exchange. Two years of Active, Sold, Conditional Sold and Pending Sold information is available for all listing classes through Connect. The commercial listings include four years of history.

The boards say that while it provides access to important information, Connect does not serve as a substitute for local board or association membership. It also doesn’t offer the full functionality of an organization’s MLS system. For example, listings cannot be loaded to or through Connect, and although they can be printed, listings cannot be emailed through the Connect system.

The boards say other Ontario boards and associations will soon be invited to join through acceptance of terms and “a simple, cost-sharing formula.”