Realtor.ca Property Search Scraper: Extract Canadian Real Estate Listings Data

Why Realtor.ca Data Is Critical for Canadian Real Estate

Realtor.ca stands as Canada's most authoritative real estate platform, operated by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Unlike third-party listing aggregators, Realtor.ca provides direct access to MLS (Multiple Listing Service) data, making it the primary source of truth for property transactions across all Canadian provinces.

The platform hosts hundreds of thousands of active listings, from residential homes to commercial properties, spanning urban centers like Toronto and Vancouver to rural communities. This data represents real-time market conditions, pricing trends, and inventory dynamics that drive the Canadian housing market.

Manual extraction of this data is impractical at scale. Real estate investors, market analysts, appraisers, and developers need systematic access to property information across multiple regions. This scraper automates the collection process, transforming search results into structured datasets ready for analysis, visualization, or integration with business systems.

Scraper Capabilities and Target Users

The Realtor.ca Property Search Scraper extracts comprehensive listing data from property search pages. It captures both standard real estate information and Realtor.ca-specific metadata that provides deeper insights into each property's market position.

The tool handles various property types and transaction categories. Whether you're tracking residential sales, rental listings, or commercial properties, the scraper processes the complete dataset from search result pages. It navigates bilingual content (English and French), respects rate limits, and manages pagination to collect data from multiple result pages.

Real estate investors use this scraper to identify investment opportunities and track property valuations across target markets. Appraisers and brokers leverage the data for comparative market analysis and pricing strategies. Market researchers analyze trends in inventory levels, days-on-market, and geographic price variations. Property technology companies integrate this data into their platforms to provide market insights to end users.

Input Configuration and URL Structure

The scraper requires property search page URLs from Realtor.ca. These URLs are generated when you perform searches on the platform using filters like location, property type, price range, or transaction type (sale/rent).

Understanding Realtor.ca Search URLs

Search URLs contain encoded parameters that define your query. Here's what the key parameters mean:

• GeoIds: Encoded geographic identifier for the search area (city, neighborhood, or region)
• GeoName: Human-readable location name
• PropertyTypeGroupID: Type of property (1=Residential, 2=Condo, 3=Commercial, etc.)
• TransactionTypeId: Transaction type (1=Sale, 2=Rent)
• CurrentPage: Pagination number for multi-page results
• Sort: Sort order (6-D typically means newest listings first)
• PriceMin/PriceMax: Price range filters (when specified)

Input Configuration Example

{
  "proxy": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "max_items_per_url": 20,
  "ignore_url_failures": true,
  "urls": [
    "https://www.realtor.ca/qc/longueuil/real-estate"
  ]
}

Example Screenshot:

Proxy Configuration: Using Canadian residential proxies (apifyProxyCountry: "CA") is recommended for optimal performance and to appear as local traffic. Residential proxies reduce the likelihood of bot detection since Realtor.ca implements protective measures.

max_items_per_url: Controls how many properties to extract per search URL. Setting this to 20 (as in the example) limits each URL to 20 listings, useful for testing or focused data collection. Increase this number for comprehensive market coverage, or remove the limit to extract all available results.

ignore_url_failures: When set to true, the scraper continues processing remaining URLs even if some fail. This is valuable when scraping multiple markets where some searches might return no results or encounter temporary issues.

URLs Array: Include multiple search URLs to scrape different geographic areas, property types, or price ranges in a single run. For example, combine searches for Toronto condos, Vancouver houses, and Montreal rentals to build a comprehensive multi-market dataset.

How to Generate Search URLs

1. Navigate to Realtor.ca and use the search interface to filter properties by your criteria
2. Select your desired location, property type, price range, and other filters
3. Once results appear, copy the URL from your browser's address bar
4. Add this URL to the urls array in your input configuration
5. Repeat for additional markets or search criteria you want to track

Complete Output Data Structure Explained

The scraper returns detailed JSON objects for each property listing. Understanding these fields enables you to extract maximum value from the data.

Core Listing Identifiers

ID: Internal database identifier unique to each listing. Use this for deduplication when combining data from multiple scraping runs or tracking specific properties over time.

MLS Number: The official Multiple Listing Service number assigned by the local real estate board. This is the authoritative identifier recognized across the Canadian real estate industry. Critical for cross-referencing with other MLS databases or verifying listing authenticity.

Alternate URL: Direct link to the property's detail page. Some listings provide alternative URL structures, useful for accessing different versions of the listing or handling redirects.

Property Content and Description

Public Remarks: The full property description written by the listing agent. This rich text field contains details about features, recent renovations, neighborhood amenities, and selling points. Analyzing this text reveals what agents emphasize and can be mined for keywords related to luxury features, investment potential, or unique characteristics.

Structured Property Details

Building: Object containing building-specific information such as construction year, building type, number of units (for condos), and architectural style. Essential for filtering properties by age or building characteristics.

Individual: Property-specific details including number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, and lot size. This granular data enables precise property comparisons and valuation models.

Property: Higher-level property classification including ownership type (freehold, condo, co-op), zoning, and property subtype. Critical for understanding legal structure and use restrictions.

Land: For properties with land, this includes lot dimensions, frontage, depth, and acreage. Particularly valuable for development analysis or rural property evaluation.

Market Status and Timing

Status ID: Numeric code indicating listing status. Common values include active, sold, expired, or conditional. This field is essential for filtering current inventory versus historical data.

Inserted Date UTC: Timestamp when the listing first appeared on Realtor.ca. Useful for calculating days-on-market and analyzing how quickly properties move in different markets.

Time On Realtor: Duration the listing has been active on the platform. Key metric for identifying properties that may be overpriced or have issues versus those with strong market appeal.

Photo Change Date UTC: When listing photos were last updated. Agents sometimes refresh photos to renew interest in stale listings. Tracking this helps identify relisted properties or significant listing updates.

Has New Image Update: Boolean flag indicating recent photo additions. Useful for monitoring which listings are being actively marketed with fresh content.

Open House Information

Open House: Array of scheduled open house events with dates, times, and any special instructions. This data enables tracking open house frequency across markets and identifying seller urgency.

Open House Insert Date UTC: When open house information was added to the listing. Recent additions may indicate increased marketing efforts or price adjustments.

Has Open House Update: Boolean indicating if open house details were recently modified. Helps identify listings with active marketing campaigns.

Geographic and Boundary Data

Postal Code: Canadian postal code for precise location identification. More granular than city-level data, enabling micro-market analysis by neighborhood.

Province Name: Canadian province where the property is located (Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, etc.). Essential for segmenting data by regional markets.

Listing Boundary: Geographic coordinates defining the property's location or search area boundary. Enables mapping, spatial analysis, and proximity calculations to amenities or transit.

Listing GMT: Time zone offset for the listing's location. Important when analyzing temporal patterns across provinces in different time zones.

Multilingual Support

Relative URL (EN): English-language URL path to the property detail page.

Relative URL (FR): French-language URL path, particularly relevant for Quebec listings where bilingual content is standard.

Relative Details URL: Canonical relative path to the listing details, used for constructing full URLs or tracking listing versions.

Media and Visual Content

Media: Array of image URLs, virtual tour links, video walkthroughs, and floor plans. Rich media is increasingly important for online property marketing. The number and quality of media assets can correlate with listing performance.

Uploaded By: Identifier for the user or system that uploaded media assets. Can indicate whether content is agent-provided or professional photography.

Historical and Metadata

Historical Data Is Cleared: Boolean indicating if previous price history or listing modifications were removed. Important when conducting longitudinal price analysis or identifying relisted properties.

Tags: Array of marketing tags or property highlights (e.g., "waterfront," "investment opportunity," "fixer-upper"). These standardized tags enable categorical filtering and trend analysis of property features.

Distance: Calculated distance from a reference point (typically the center of your search area). Useful for proximity-based filtering or analyzing price gradients by distance from urban cores.

Business and Commercial Properties

Business: Additional fields specific to commercial or business property listings, including business type, revenue information, and operating details. Present only for commercial property searches.

Example Output

[
  {
  "id": "29172856",
  "mls_number": "19385270",
  "public_remarks": "Coup de coeur pour cette magnifique propriété où simplicité, douceur et raffinement sont au rendez-vous, construction de qualité par Yves Dubé, située sur un vaste terrain de 8 740 pc dans un croissant tranquille, splendide cuisine de rêve avec majestueux îlot, véranda trois saisons, 4+2 chambres à coucher, chambre principale avec suite privée munie d'un walk-in, garage, superbe cour boisée avec piscine creusée chauffée et sécurisée, thermopompe murale, stationnement pour 5 véhicules, tout près du boisé du Tremblay, parcs, écoles, train de banlieue et autobus express vers le métro! Un lieu inspirant, parfait pour une vie familiale épanouie! (48558126)",
  "building": {
    "bathroom_total": "2",
    "bedrooms": "6",
    "stories_total": "2",
    "type": "House",
    "floor_area_measurements": [],
    "half_bath_total": "2"
  },
  "individual": [
    {
      "individual_i_d": 1874138,
      "name": "Hugues Ross-Shareck",
      "organization": {
        "organization_i_d": 276091,
        "name": "GROUPE GARCIA & LAPIERRE S.E.N.C.",
        "logo": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/organization/en-CA/TS638404816200000000/lowres/1270927.jpg",
        "address": {
          "address_text": "202-4490 ch. de Chambly |Saint-Hubert, Quebec J3Y3M8",
          "permit_show_address": true
        },
        "phones": [
          {
            "phone_type": "Telephone",
            "phone_number": "286-4666",
            "area_code": "450",
            "phone_type_id": "1"
          },
          {
            "phone_type": "Fax",
            "phone_number": "286-4667",
            "area_code": "450",
            "phone_type_id": "4"
          }
        ],
        "emails": [
          {
            "contact_id": "541954895"
          }
        ],
        "organization_type": "Firm",
        "designation": "Real Estate Agency",
        "has_email": true,
        "permit_freetext_email": true,
        "permit_show_listing_link": true,
        "relative_details_u_r_l": "/office/firm/276091/groupe-garcia-lapierre-senc-202-4490-ch-de-chambly-saint-hubert-quebec-j3y3m8",
        "photo_lastupdate": "2024-01-10 11:07:00 AM"
      },
      "phones": [
        {
          "phone_type": "Telephone",
          "phone_number": "286-4666",
          "area_code": "450",
          "phone_type_id": "1"
        }
      ],
      "websites": [
        {
          "website": "https://www.groupegarcialapierre.com/",
          "website_type_id": "1"
        }
      ],
      "emails": [
        {
          "contact_id": "556783900"
        }
      ],
      "photo": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/individual/TS638995788600000000/lowres/1203889.jpg",
      "position": "Residential and Commercial Real Estate Broker",
      "permit_freetext_email": true,
      "first_name": "Hugues",
      "last_name": "Ross-Shareck",
      "corporation_display_type_id": "0",
      "permit_show_listing_link": true,
      "relative_details_u_r_l": "/agent/1874138/hugues-ross-shareck-202-4490-ch-de-chambly-saint-hubert-quebec-j3y3m8",
      "agent_photo_last_updated": "2025-11-24 11:01:00",
      "photo_high_res": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/individual/TS638995788600000000/highres/1203889.jpg",
      "rank_my_agent_key": "",
      "real_satisfied_key": "",
      "testimonial_tree_key": ""
    }
  ],
  "property": {
    "price": "$1,074,900",
    "type": "Single Family",
    "address": {
      "address_text": "1608 Rue du Bordelais|Longueuil (Le Vieux-Longueuil), Quebec J4M2Z2",
      "longitude": "-73.440748",
      "latitude": "45.531608",
      "permit_show_address": true
    },
    "photo": [
      {
        "sequence_id": "1",
        "high_res_path": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/listings/TS639008175465470000/reb5/highres/0/19385270_1.jpg",
        "med_res_path": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/listings/TS639008175465470000/reb5/medres/0/19385270_1.jpg",
        "low_res_path": "https://cdn.realtor.ca/listings/TS639008175465470000/reb5/lowres/0/19385270_1.jpg",
        "description": "Frontage",
        "last_updated": "2025-12-08 7:05:46 PM",
        "type_id": "0"
      }
    ],
    "parking": [
      {
        "name": "Garage"
      },
      {
        "name": "Other"
      }
    ],
    "parking_space_total": "5",
    "type_id": "300",
    "farm_type": "Other",
    "zoning_type": "Residential",
    "ammenities_near_by": "Highway, CEGEP, Golf Course, Hospital, Park, Schools, Public Transit",
    "parking_type": "Garage, Other",
    "price_unformatted_value": "1074900",
    "short_value": "1.07M",
    "price_change_time_on_realtor": "",
    "price_change_tag_date_u_t_c": "12:00:00 AM"
  },
  "open_house": [
    {
      "start_time": "Dec 14/25 - 2:00 PM To 4:00 PM",
      "start_date_time": "14/12/2025 2:00:00 PM",
      "end_date_time": "14/12/2025 4:00:00 PM",
      "formatted_date_time": "Dec 14/25 - 2:00 PM To 4:00 PM",
      "event_type_i_d": "1"
    }
  ],
  "business": {},
  "land": {
    "size_total": "812 m2",
    "size_frontage": "35.59 m"
  },
  "alternate_url": null,
  "postal_code": "J4M2Z2",
  "historical_data_is_cleared": false,
  "province_name": "Quebec",
  "relative_details_url": null,
  "status_id": "1",
  "open_house_insert_date_utc": null,
  "has_open_house_update": true,
  "photo_change_date_utc": null,
  "has_new_image_update": true,
  "distance": "",
  "relative_url_en": null,
  "relative_url_fr": null,
  "listing_time_zone": "Eastern Standard Time",
  "listing_boundary": "America/Toronto",
  "listing_gmt": null,
  "media": [
    {
      "media_category_id": "1",
      "media_category_u_r_l": "https://passerelle.centris.ca/redirect.aspx?CodeDest=MACLE&NoMLS=19385270&Lang=E",
      "description": "AlternateFeatureSheetWebsite",
      "order": 1
    }
  ],
  "inserted_date_utc": null,
  "time_on_realtor": "3 hours ago",
  "tags": [
    {
      "label": "3 hours ago",
      "h_t_m_l_color_code": "#23A1C0",
      "listing_tag_type_i_d": "1"
    }
  ],
  "uploaded_by": 5,
  "from_url": "https://www.realtor.ca/qc/longueuil/real-estate"
}
]

Step-by-Step Usage Guide

1. Create and configure your Apify account with appropriate credit allocation for your scraping volume.

2. Identify target markets by manually searching Realtor.ca for your areas of interest. Apply relevant filters (location, price, property type) and copy the resulting search URLs.

3. Configure your input JSON with collected URLs, proxy settings, and item limits. Start with max_items_per_url: 20 for testing, then increase or remove this limit for production runs.

4. Launch the scraper and monitor execution in the Apify console. For 100 properties, expect 5-10 minutes runtime depending on proxy speed and platform load.

5. Review data quality in the dataset preview. Verify that key fields (price, bedrooms, location) are populated correctly. If you notice missing data, check that your search URLs are correctly formatted and return results on Realtor.ca directly.

6. Export your data in JSON for database integration, CSV for spreadsheet analysis, or Excel for formatted reporting. JSON preserves nested structures (like media arrays), while CSV flattens the data for simpler analysis.

7. Set up scheduled runs for ongoing market monitoring. Daily scrapes capture new listings immediately, while weekly runs suffice for trend analysis without excessive data volume.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

No results returned: Verify your search URL returns listings when accessed directly in a browser. Some geographic areas have limited inventory.

Partial data fields: Realtor.ca doesn't require all fields for every listing. Missing bathroom counts or square footage is common for older listings.

Rate limiting errors: Reduce concurrent requests or increase delays between requests. Canadian residential proxies help avoid detection.

Practical Applications Across Use Cases

Real Estate Investment Analysis

Build proprietary deal flow by identifying undervalued properties through automated monitoring. Calculate price-per-square-foot metrics across neighborhoods to spot arbitrage opportunities. Track days-on-market to identify motivated sellers. Analyze rental yield by comparing sale prices against rental comps in the same area.

Market Research and Reporting

Generate market reports showing inventory trends, median prices, and absorption rates by geography and property type. Track new construction velocity by monitoring building age distributions. Identify emerging neighborhoods by analyzing listing growth and price appreciation rates.

Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)

Appraisers and agents can automate comparable property searches by filtering the dataset for similar properties (bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, location). Historical price data enables price adjustment calculations for time and condition differences.

Property Technology Integration

PropTech platforms can integrate this data to power features like automated valuation models (AVMs), investment calculators, or neighborhood analytics. Real-time listing feeds keep user-facing applications current without manual updates.

Competitive Intelligence for Brokerages

Track competitor listing activity by monitoring "uploaded by" fields or analyzing listing descriptions for brokerage mentions. Identify top-performing agents by volume and analyze their pricing strategies or marketing approaches.

Data Enrichment and Best Practices

Combine with census data: Merge scraped listings with Statistics Canada demographic data using postal codes. This enriches property data with income levels, population growth, and household characteristics.

Geocode for spatial analysis: Convert postal codes or boundaries to precise coordinates using geocoding APIs. This enables heatmap visualizations, distance calculations to amenities, and clustering analysis.

Track changes over time: Store snapshots from regular scrapes to build longitudinal datasets. Monitor individual properties to detect price changes, status updates, or relisting events.

Validate data quality: Implement checks for reasonable price ranges, valid postal codes, and complete address information. Flag outliers for manual review to catch data entry errors or exceptional properties.

Respect scraping ethics: Limit request frequency to avoid overwhelming Realtor.ca's servers. Use residential proxies and randomize request timing to distribute load. This sustainable approach ensures continued data access.

Conclusion

The Realtor.ca Property Search Scraper provides systematic access to Canada's authoritative real estate data. Whether you're analyzing market dynamics, sourcing investment opportunities, or building property technology solutions, this tool transforms manual research into automated intelligence. Start extracting actionable insights from Canada's housing market today.