10/17/08

Nearly nine months after acquiring the technology from Bell New Ventures, the Toronto Star has launched an impressive resale real estate site, StarRealEstate.ca. Unlike any other Canadian real estate Web site, The Star is able to access a comprehensive data feed of listings from the MLS system due to its publishing relationship with the huge Toronto Real Estate Board -- on behalf of TREB, the Star publishes the Real Estate News, a tiny tabloid insert that has struggled to find a market for years. In 2007, Bell had developed good technology to create RealEstatePlus.ca and tried to circumvent the MLS monopoly by applying for a brokerage licence, but TREB legal action shut it down. StarRealEstate.ca has full listings searchable by neighborhood, with demographic profiles and mapping of schools, restaurants, fire halls etc.