CEO's report

Every year in this document, we report back to you, our REALTOR® members, on what your national association has been doing over the past year and what those efforts have accomplished. Past reports have shared with you major consultation and strategic planning exercises intended to examine the ever-changing face of our industry in Canada and lay the groundwork so that you as REALTORS® can continue to thrive and succeed.

This past year, 2015, was less about such large-scale exercises and far more about executing on the plans and strategies we developed in previous years. It was a year of quiet but steady progress on a wide variety of fronts.

CREA Open Houses improve member engagement

Even though CREA has a myriad of communications vehicles – like this Annual Report – through which it interacts with members, the face-to-face nature of our Open Houses continues to deliver some of the best engagement. Our President, Pauline Aunger, has more to say about this in her report but I was impressed, as I attended these Open Houses, with the level of dialogue and input from members and the renewed appreciation for what members receive for their annual $310 CREA dues.

REALTOR.ca delivers powerful consumer insight

REALTOR.ca is by far the most visited real estate site in Canada. Its whole purpose is to connect consumers with REALTORS®, and every year it generates more and better leads for our members. The millions of potential home buyers and sellers who visit the site every month generate a wealth of highly valuable data. This past year, we made improvements to the site and added powerful analytical tools that allow us to extract incredible insight into how consumers behave in the Canadian housing market. We have started sharing those insights with our REALTOR® members through regular insight reports.

Entire real estate transaction can now be completed electronically

The age of truly paperless transactions is fully upon us in organized real estate in Canada. CREA's electronic WEBForms® has long been one of the most popular products that we offer our members. With it, REALTORS® can pull verified listing details directly from Board and Association MLS® Systems to create polished and professional paperwork to present to clients. Now, with Ontario expanding the use of electronic signatures to include the purchase and sale agreement, an additional 65,000 REALTORS® can conclude the entire real estate transaction in an entirely paperless format.

International business grows for REALTORS® in Canada

We know from the research conducted at CREA that one-third of our member REALTORS® have been involved in some sort of international transaction, whether that's on behalf of a client leaving or entering the country. It's an attractive option for REALTORS® who want to increase the scope of their practices, and we're seeing significant uptake of the training programs we have developed in partnership with local Boards and Associations that better prepare members to take advantage of the opportunities represented by international real estate transactions.