by Steve Randall | 07 Feb 2020 | from repmag.ca

Canadian real estate agents and brokers saw their operating revenue fall in 2018, the first decline since 2013 when new survey methods were introduced.

New data from Statistics Canada shows that the industry generated $15.1 billion in operating revenue in 2018, down 0.3% from 2017.

The report says that the tighter mortgage lending rules brought in at the start of 2018, together with higher borrowing costs, reined in demand for new and existing homes in the year.

The biggest impact on revenues came from Ontario which saw a 4% decline and accounted for 54.1% of operating revenue nationally.

There were also declines for Saskatchewan (-1.6%) and Alberta (-1.1%) while Quebec bucked the trend with an 11.9% increase year-over-year to $1.8 billion, a new record high. BC posted a more modest gain as higher prices offset a fall in sales.

There were also significant increases for New Brunswick (+13.9%), Nova Scotia (+11.5%) and Prince Edward Island (+9.1%) with immigration to the Atlantic Canada region boosted by the Atlantic Immigration Pilot.

The operating profit margin for real estate agents and brokers edged down from 29.1% in 2017 to 28.9% in 2018.