![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/toronto-luxury-home.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto: Sotheby’s<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Realtors are noticing more Toronto luxury home owners are trying to sell their properties privately through exclusive listings, which don\u2019t appear on the local real estate board\u2019s multiple listing service.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the trends outlined in a new report from Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Canada on Canadian top-tier residential real estate.<\/p>\n According to the report, in the first two months of this year sales of Toronto homes priced between $2\u20134 million dropped 21 percent compared to the same period in 2018. For homes priced above $4 million, the decline was a sharper 29 percent.<\/p>\n\n Sotheby\u2019s Canada President and CEO Brad Henderson attributes at least some of the decline to home sellers who are trying to maintain privacy after last year’s Supreme Court decision<\/a> not to hear the Toronto Real Estate Board’s appeal to keep data, including sold prices, private.<\/p>\n The board had been battling the\u00a0Competition Bureau, an independent Canadian law enforcement agency, for the better part of a decade over the matter. The Bureau viewed TREB’s handling of the data as anti-competitive, while the board argued it was protecting consumer privacy by only granting realtors direct access.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to determine exactly how much of the decline in sales is attributable to that versus the broader dynamics in the market because nobody keeps statistics on how many exclusives are sold versus how many properties would be listed in the multiple listing service,\u201d Henderson tells Livabl.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there\u2019s no question that we\u2019ve seen an increase in the number of people who do not want their\u2026 information disseminated and therefore have chosen to list on an exclusive basis,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n More than one realtor Livabl spoke to confirmed confirmed they had seen more exclusive listings at the high end of the Toronto market recently.<\/p>\n Jamie Sarner, a Toronto real estate agent with PSR Brokerage who works with high-end listings suggests the increase in exclusive listings has to do with recent market conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that always happens when there\u2019s an uncertainty in the market,\u201d says Sarner, referring to more exclusive listings being offered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear always is that you go on the market on the MLS and there\u2019s a history and it\u2019s easily tracked digitally… if you don\u2019t sell, people have the ability to look back,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n When they do, they might assume a home didn\u2019t sell simply because of the price. \u201cSometimes it is price, but not always,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n The uncertainty stems from higher interest rates and government intervention, including mortgage stress testing<\/a> that was introduced federally last January, Sarner says. The test requires uninsured-mortgage applicants to qualify at an interest rate that is 200 basis points higher than what their lender is offering.<\/p>\n\r\n SEE ALSO:<\/span>Would more transparency in Toronto bidding wars be a good thing for home sellers?<\/a><\/strong>\r\n <\/div>\n