Technology

REALTOR.ca, now incorporating commercial listings, confirms position as the most popular real estate website in Canada. And a powerful tool for REALTORS®.

CREA develops Apple Watch app

CREA developed one of the first apps to be available on the Apple Watch, and participated in the launch of the product. The app lets people use their Apple Watch to view nearby properties and receive a variety of alerts.

ICX.ca amalgamated into REALTOR.ca

CREA's long-standing site for commercial real estate, ICX.ca. was amalgamated this past year into REALTOR.ca, the most popular real estate site in Canada. Commercial listings are now on an equal footing with residential listings, with the site presenting prominent navigation tabs right at the top that lets people switch from one to the other.

REALTOR.ca, widely seen as the place to start a real estate search, had always been the single largest source of referrals for ICX.ca, with 40 percent of its traffic coming from the residential site.

The amalgamation means that any new feature created for either residential or commercial listings can now be implemented on the other side far more quickly and cost-effectively. Similarly, all the platform advantages of REALTOR.ca – analytics, responsive availability on mobile devices, and so on – are now equally available to commercial REALTORS®.

Feedback from commercial REALTORS® has been extremely positive. One wholly intended consequence is the expectation that the amalgamation will spur greater participation in the commercial market by REALTORS® who also do residential. Only about three percent of REALTORS® are exclusively commercial; about 30 percent work at both.

 

CREA held a commercial real estate annual conference in 2015

An annual conference focused exclusively on commercial real estate was organised by CREA in September. The conference, which was open to all CREA members, included a full day of professional development for REALTORS® who are not exclusively commercial to better understand the unique terminology and instruments, such as commercial leases, that are used in that sector.

 

Keyword search implemented in REALTOR.ca

Consumers searching for properties to buy on REALTOR.ca, the country's most popular real estate website, can now search for particular amenities that interest them, such as an in-law suite or a finished basement. Not only does this added feature give consumers a greater ability to focus in on the amenities they desire the most, it also gives REALTORS® powerful insight into exactly which amenities are the most popular in individual markets across Canada. CREA publishes quarterly reports on the most popular search words in each major markets and whether they trend up or down. REALTORS® can harness the power of these analytics by ensuring that their listings highlight the amenities consumers are searching for the most.

 

REALTOR Link® brings cohesive new platform to local Boards and Associations

REALTOR Link®, the intranet website shared by local real estate Boards and Associations, was ported this past year to a powerful new Adobe platform that brings a consistent look and feel to the site for each Board and Association across Canada. Individual Boards determine for themselves what kind of content – educational material, business information, local meeting notices and the like – they want to publish on their area on REALTOR Link®. Visitors to the site, however, experience a consistent browsing experience, making it far easier to access that information.

The platform is fully bilingual and is being used by 70 Boards and Associations, and we anticipate that the majority of the Québec boards will also embrace it. The new platform was rolled out in 2015 with extensive training for both Board staff who have to populate it with content and for the REALTORS® who will be using it. Follow-up survey research measured an 82 percent satisfaction rate.

REALTOR.ca stats

  • April is always the busiest month of the year. April 2015 saw more than 11 million sessions.
  • 12 months ending October 31, 2015: Realtor.ca
  • Mobile accounts for 58 percent of all sessions. Desktop predominates during the working day with mobile taking over in the evening and on weekends.
  • REALTOR.ca enjoys a 99.9 percent uptime record, with the tiny 0.1 percent downtime due to scheduled maintenance.
  • Consumer login implemented in the Fall allows consumers to save search preferences, view the same searches on desktop or mobile, and receive alerts when a new listing of interest to them is posted.
  • Regular reports are mining the massive amounts of data generated by these millions and millions of visits to produce insights into consumer behaviour on the site. Google Analytics Premium in the backend provides much more comprehensive data. CREA also uses post-session surveys to further delve into consumer motivation and site usage and satisfaction.

WEBForms® stats

  • 65,000 users representing two-thirds of all REALTORS® eligible to use electronic forms.
  • Eleven million forms generated in a year.
  • Use growing by eight percent per year.
  • Electronic signatures on purchase and sale agreements became legal in Ontario in July, adding that province to the others where the entire transaction can be conducted in an electronic, paperless fashion.
  • 6,000 members in Ontario alone accessed training webinars on WEBForms®.

DDF® stats

  • Just over 30 percent of all listings on REALTOR.ca are now cross-listed on other sites using the DDF®.t
  • REALTORS® have 15 other sites on which they can choose to post their listings.