The Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC) is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to advancing education and professionalism in the real estate industry. Our courses and designation programs shape the future of real estate by enhancing the skills of talented professionals and business leaders. Our members are highly trained real estate professionals bound by the Institute’s Code of Professional Standards.
Our Mission Elevate professionalism in the real estate industry.
Our Vision Strengthen real estate through the advancement of education and the recognition of experience, expertise, and ethical standards.
Our Core Values We are committed to: high professional and ethical practices; ensuring the relevance, timeliness, and industry-based experience; the power of knowledge and the importance of sharing it; bringing the broad range of real estate professionals together to strengthen the industry; and, operating in the most effective and impactful way to support our members.
Our Story
In 1955 at a time when there wasn’t any organized education for the advancement in the real estate industry, today’s REIC was formed as the Canadian Institute of Realtors (CIR) and became the educational arm of the association known today as the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
Ninety-six members were first granted membership based on their extensive practical experiences and their passion for professional excellence in real estate. Part of the qualification for membership was the requirement to complete an advanced educational program which, at the time, was only provided as a correspondence course through the University of Toronto. The first “graduating” class was in 1956.
With the involvement of CIR, all the provinces, through their local Universities, were able to launch the advanced educational program or other programs equal to its standards and as an incentive, qualified graduates could use the FRI designation, or “Fellow of the Realtors Institute”. With CIR and its members becoming the foremost authority in real estate education in Canada, its function changed from creating courses to coordinating, maintaining and promoting the expansion of real estate education at all levels.
With the focus on expansion, a group of Certified Property Managers (CPM) in Canada, who were members of the American-based Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), forged an affiliation to make the CPM designation available in Canada. With resources needed to produce the educational programs to facilitate the CPM in Canada, they looked to CREA for support.
On January 1st, 1971, the CIR became known as the Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC) and four years later, REIC became an autonomous body with an affiliation agreement with the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Since 1975, the Real Estate Institute of Canada’s membership has grown. Our members exemplify the definition of professionalism in the many different sectors of real estate. REIC continues to forge the path of our original members and are dedicated in the pursuit of high ethical standards and the advancement of excellence in the real estate industry in Canada.
