Premier Christy Clark of B.C. has trumped the province's Real Estate Council's belated attempt to reform itself. Instead, there will be a superintendent of real estate who will be able to overrule the decisions and proposals of the real estate industry. Most Canadian provinces, notably the three other largest (Ontario, Quebec and Alberta), still have self-regulation in real estate. But the B.C. Liberals are now reversing the deregulation they brought in a decade ago.
The next provincial election is less than a year away, and the overheated residential real estate market in the Lower Mainland is the issue that is most on the public's mind.
Even so, it's not likely that the overheated market in the whole region will be cooled down much, if at all, by these welcome reforms. The causes of the overheating are not convincingly understood by anybody. In Canada, only the Toronto region is experiencing anything remotely similar.
The combination of panic and (on the part of not a few real estate agents) unethical greed in Greater Vancouver undoubtedly exacerbates the problem. Buyers may desperately put in offers before homes become even more expensive, but rising prices are not inherently evil.
The crackdown on some real agents' practices is nonetheless a good thing. In a dizzying atmosphere, real estate agents may lose their moral compasses. If a market is in equilibrium, there is less danger in having an agent who represents both seller and buyer, but it's not a prudent practice.
The now notorious practice of "shadow flipping," in which agents resell a deal before the transaction closes (and more than once), without even telling their clients that the agents are making the gain, is disgraceful, deserving of suppression and punishment.
On the other hand, the provincial NDP and Mayor Gregor Robertson are advancing some undesirable proposals. There should not be a punitive tax on vacant homes, and there's nothing wicked about owning land in B.C. while not paying tax to Ottawa or Victoria – foreign or out-of-province owners still have to pay municipal property tax.
Some good reforms should emerge from all this – along with a few dubious denunciations.