Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
First, let me introduce ourselves. My name is Pénéla Guy and I am Chief Executive Officer of the Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards. With me is Paul Cardinal; he is an economist and our manager of market analysis.
We would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before you today on this very important matter.
The Québec Federation of Real Estate Boards is a non-profit organization that oversees the 12 real estate boards in the province of Quebec. Our organization seeks to defend, protect and promote the interests of real estate brokers in the province through the provision of services in the areas of professional practices, mediation and arbitration, public affairs and market analysis. In 2016, the 13,000 brokers whom we represent completed around 79,000 real estate transactions, with an economic impact estimated at $2.9 billion.
Although we acknowledge the government's good intention to address concerns raised by the Vancouver and Toronto markets, we believe it is important for committee members to understand the negative impacts the recent tightening of mortgage rules will have on the Quebec real estate market.