Real estate newsletters in Canada: what to send, how often, and what CASL allows
A newsletter costs almost nothing to send and reaches people who already know your team. That makes it the cheapest follow-up channel a team has. In Canada it also carries the strictest rules of any channel, because every issue is a commercial electronic message under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
Most newsletter advice online is written for US agents and skips that part. This guide covers what to put in an issue, where the numbers come from, and what CASL and RECO require. Rules were checked against the sources on November 10, 2026.
Who you're allowed to email
Under CASL you need consent before sending a commercial email, and consent is either express or implied (CASL, section 6).
| Kind of consent | How you get it | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Express | The person agrees to receive your emails, for example by ticking a box on a registration form | Until they unsubscribe |
| Implied, from a purchase or contract | They bought, sold or signed with you | Two years from that day |
| Implied, from an inquiry | They asked you a question or filled in a form | Six months from that day |
The durations are in section 10 of the Act. The government's plain-language guide puts it the same way: implied consent "may be valid for up to 2 years—or just 6 months in the case of inquiries or applications" (Government of Canada).
In practice, that means three things for a team:
- A bought list has no consent. Names you bought or scraped can't go on the newsletter.
- An open-house sign-in or a website inquiry gives you six months. Use that time to ask for express consent.
- Ask at registration. A form that asks "send me the monthly market update" turns a six-month window into an open-ended one.
What every issue must include
Each message has to carry three things (CASL, sections 6 and 11):
- Who sent it. Your name and brokerage, and anyone you're sending on behalf of.
- How to reach you. The government's guide asks for a current mailing address and either a phone number, email or website address, valid for at least 60 days after the message is sent.
- An unsubscribe link that costs nothing to use and works for at least 60 days. A request must take effect within 10 business days.
The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 for an individual and $10,000,000 for any other person (section 20). RECO's advertising rules also apply to email: the brokerage name must appear clearly, as registered (Bulletin 5.1).
What to put in it
People open a real estate newsletter for one reason: to find out what's happening to home values near them. Build each issue around that.
- The month's numbers. Lead with two or three figures from your board's monthly release, with the source named. For October 2026, TRREB reported 5,603 GTA sales (down 7.9% from a year earlier), an average price of $1,024,108 (down 2.7%) and new listings down 11.9% (TRREB, November 4, 2026).
- What it means on your streets. One short paragraph in your own words about your farm: what's selling, how quickly, and what you're seeing at showings. This is the part no template can supply.
- One useful local item. A new development application, a school boundary change, a road closure.
- One link to a page you own. The neighbourhood's market page or a new article. The email reaches people this week; the page it points to keeps working afterwards.
Keep it short enough to read on a phone in two minutes.
Be careful with sold prices
"Just sold for $1.2M on Maple Avenue" is the most tempting line in any newsletter. RECO's notice on sold data says registrants must not include details of an agreement of purchase and sale in an advertisement, such as the parties, the location or the price, without the written consent of the parties (RECO). A newsletter is advertising.
Use board-level and area-level statistics in the email. For street-level sold prices, link to a page where registered visitors can see them under your brokerage's VOW agreement. IDX, VOW and CREA DDF explained covers what each feed allows.
How often to send
Monthly suits most teams, timed to the board's release. TRREB publishes its Market Watch early each month (October's figures came out on November 4), so an issue sent a few days later has fresh numbers. A second, shorter email mid-month works if you have something specific to say, like a new listing in the farm.
Consistency matters more than frequency. A newsletter that arrives on the same week every month becomes something people expect.
Where the list comes from
The best newsletter list is made of people who asked for it. That's the difference between a list you build and one you rent:
- Past clients and sphere. Ask each one directly; implied consent runs out two years after the sale.
- Open houses. A sign-in is an inquiry, so you have six months to earn an express yes.
- Website and portal registrations. A visitor who registers to see sold prices in one neighbourhood, and ticks the box for the monthly update, has told you what they want to hear about and given consent that doesn't expire.
A portal's registration form can ask for that consent at the moment someone signs up. How neighbourhood portals work has the detail, and our real estate CRM guide covers how a CRM should record consent.
What to measure
- Replies. The best signal. A reply is a conversation.
- Clicks to your own pages, and which pages.
- Unsubscribes per issue. A steady trickle is normal. A jump means the issue missed.
- Listings, traced back to people who were on the list.
Open rates are unreliable, because many mail apps load messages automatically. Judge an issue by replies and clicks.
The short version
- Email only people with express or implied consent, and record which and when.
- Put your brokerage name, contact details and an unsubscribe link in every issue.
- Lead with the month's published numbers, then say what they mean on your streets.
- Keep sold prices of individual homes out of the email unless you have written consent.
- Send it the same week every month, and point it at pages you own.
For how email fits with mail, ads and an owned site, see what each real estate marketing channel costs.
This is general information, not legal advice; check with your brokerage.
