Ontario real estate agents reported just eight large cash transactions over the past year to the federal anti-money-laundering watchdog, according to new figures.
The multibillion-dollar real estate market is at high risk for money laundering, experts say.
However, the low number of reports – which is down substantially from previous years – could be due, at least in part, to brokerages implementing no-cash policies.
To help combat the flow of illicit funds, real estate agents and brokers are required by law to report cash transactions of $10,000 or higher, as well as suspicious transactions of any value, to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC), which works with police.
In data provided to The Globe and Mail, FinTRAC said Ontario’s real estate sector submitted eight reports of large cash transactions in 2024-25. The province’s realtors made 25 reports in 2023-24 and 16 in 2022-23.
“FinTRAC has observed a decline in the number of large cash transactions being reported from the real estate sector,” spokeswoman Lori Blair said in an e-mail.
“Many businesses have implemented a no-cash policy, advising clients who want to make their deposits in cash to obtain bank drafts or certified cheques from their financial institutions instead.”
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Asked about the figures, the Ontario Real Estate Association said it has “consistently called on the provincial and federal governments to get ‘dirty money’ out of the real estate market,” president Cathy Polan said in a statement.
Ms. Polan said the group supports the creation of a beneficial ownership registry using the land title system to help combat the practice by people using shell companies to buy real estate. British Columbia has such a registry, but Ontario does not.
In a 2022 report, Ontario’s then-auditor-general Bonnie Lysyk found that the industry’s regulator, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), had been ineffective in policing the residential property industry.
RECO did not have a process to inspect whether real estate professionals were complying with anti-money-laundering laws, the report said. Ms. Lysyk said in a press release at the time that it was “probable that money laundering is occurring undetected in Ontario’s real estate market.”
After the report, RECO updated its inspection process to include reviewing compliance with FinTRAC reporting obligations, said registrar Joseph Richer. The regulator also worked with FinTRAC to develop a course for real estate agents on compliance requirements.
“RECO takes money-laundering issues very seriously,” Mr. Richer said in a statement.
Mr. Richer said RECO inspectors have not identified cash deposits exceeding $10,000 in their reviews of a sample of transactions. “COVID-19 and the need for contactless transactions accelerated the industry’s shift toward electronic funds transfers,” he said.
FinTRAC declined to provide data on large cash-transaction reports submitted by the real estate sector in British Columbia because the number is lower than the threshold for public disclosure.