Licensing Renewal Roundup 2019

The latest licensing renewal period is complete and overall, the industry outlook remains positive.

The Numbers

Year-over-year, the number of individuals licensed in Alberta remained stable. The numbers in mortgage brokerage increased slightly, while the numbers in real estate brokerage and real estate appraisal decreased slightly.

As of October 7, 2019, 14,617 industry professionals were licensed. Of these, 11,934 real estate professionals (a decrease of 259), 2,144 mortgage brokerage professionals (an increase of 20), and 539 real estate appraisers (a decrease of 26) were licensed. The number of real estate appraisers is down over the last five years while the number of mortgage brokerage professionals is similar to those in the past five years.

This year, the number of new professionals joining the industry decreased. Between Oct. 1, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2019, 1,220 individuals joined the industry. Last year, 1,444 individuals joined. However, the industry saw fewer individuals leaving the industry for the second consecutive year.

Renewal Experience

During this year’s licensing renewal period, RECA staff continued efforts to assist industry to complete renewals efficiently and effectively. RECA was very proactive and assisted in resolving renewal issues early. There were numerous communications to industry about important topics including the requirement to notify RECA about Real Estate Act Rule s. 40 issues before starting a renewal, re-licensing

course requirements, advice about how to avoid mistaken “yes” answers in the renewal form suitability questions, and advice relating to transferring brokerages.

On September 30, 2019, 82% of industry professionals had renewed, which was a slight decrease from the previous year. This could have been tied to some industry professionals not having completed the re-licensing courses on time this year.

As in past years, more than half of the renewals took place in the last week. On September 30, 2019, the last day to renew, a record 17.4% of professionals renewed. RECA staff, the myRECA licensing system, and RECA’s education platform successfully accommodated the higher user volume in the last week and the last day.

The graph below shows the number of industry professionals who renewed each day in September.

Moving Forward

RECA is committed to continuous improvement in its licensing renewals and to this end, units have already completed internal reviews. RECA will reach out to brokerages in the coming months to identify whether there are further opportunities for additional improvements.

Helpful Tip

RECA had numerous calls about forgotten usernames and passwords during this year’s renewal process. It is a good idea to keep your username and password on file for future reference. If you do forget your username or password, there are options on the myRECA login page to have your username sent to you or reset your password.

Simply go to myreca.ca and you will find the forgot username and forgot password beside the login.

RECA would like to take this opportunity to thank industry professionals for their support and cooperation throughout this year’s renewal.