This is a great question and one that has been the subject of many committee and board conversations over the years. When we implemented the new statistics program in 2020 to create some consistency around the reporting of sales (among other things), there was ample discussion about whether to use the date of acceptance, the condition removal date or the date of possession. There are solid arguments for each of these options.
Our research at the time found that most associations use the condition removal date to indicate a sale. We also wanted to align with BCREA and CREA so that our statistics are consistent, and by using the condition removal date we were able to achieve this.
One reason against using a conditional sale date is that these listings would still show as active on the MLS® System and REALTOR.ca. If we were to change the status to "sold" at this point, they would no longer be displayed for the public to see, which was a big consideration for the committee.
Finally, choosing between date of acceptance, condition removal date, and possession date seemed to have good arguments and equal amount of support; we needed to choose something that had some additional rationale, as noted above.
Trevor Koot
Executive Officer
Kootenay Association of REALTORS®
and Kamloops and District Real Estate Association