The Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB) estimates that three out of four residential real estate resales in Quebec are concluded through the Centris provincial collaboration system used by real estate brokers. The share of Centris sales has grown steadily from about 70 per cent in 2013 to approximately 75 per cent today, says the federation.
“Our rigorous calculation methodology is based on sales concluded by provincial real estate brokers and not on new listings since they are not relevant to measuring actual market share,” says QFREB president Patrick Juanéda. “For instance, a broker could have 100 new property listings, and yet sell only one of them. Consequently, a market share based only on new listings is virtually meaningless.
“Many homeowners who try to sell by themselves end up turning to a real estate broker after a few months to conclude their transaction,” says Juanéda.
The level of confidence that Quebecers have in real estate brokers has seen strong growth since 2011, increasing by 22 percentage points according to Leger’s most recent Profession Barometer, says the federation. It says this can be attributed in large part to the increased professionalization of real estate brokers who are better trained than ever before.
Although the share of resales concluded through Centris currently sits at 75 per cent of total provincial resales, this does not necessarily mean that the remaining 25 per cent are resales concluded directly by homeowners only, says the federation.
Quebec’s real estate brokers also conclude other transactions that are not Centris sales, it says.
Examples include when a transaction involves a brokerage contract of less than 60 days or if there’s a buyer brokerage contract. “Thus, it is more accurate to say that real estate brokers conclude at least three out of four property resales,” says Juanéda.
