As of late September 2025, Ontario's real estate regulator had gone to court to freeze the assets of iPro Realty and its former directors, after about $10.5 million turned up missing from the brokerage's trust accounts in May 2025. Separately, the Ontario government and Canada's big banks were pushing staff back into Toronto offices.
I am Moe Asgarian, a Principal Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX in Toronto, and both of these stories matter to anyone buying or selling here. One is about whether your deposit is safe. The other is about who will want to live downtown.
What Happened at iPro Realty
Before its closure in May 2025, iPro Realty was one of the largest real estate brokerages in Ontario, with roughly 2,400 agents and 17 offices across Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and several other places. The story began in May 2025, when the Real Estate Council of Ontario, RECO, found a shortfall of about $10.5 million in iPro's trust accounts.
Money held in trust is not the brokerage's money. It is buyer deposits and agent commissions, held on behalf of other people, and it was not where it should have been. RECO ordered iPro closed and its accounts frozen. Through the weeks that followed, plenty of people also criticised RECO itself for not doing its job properly.
RECO's Court Application in September 2025
The update as of late September 2025 was that RECO had asked the court to freeze the assets of iPro Realty and its former directors. It described this as a practical step to pursue the rights of the people who were harmed in the middle of all this.
RECO said it had filed a formal application with the Ontario Superior Court, both to freeze those assets and to let it trace the flow of money that had been moved out of the trust accounts and return it to the proper accounts. Separately, real estate agents wrote to RECO asking for reform in this area.
The Oversight Failure and What Would Actually Fix It
What we know is that RECO had sufficient tools to supervise. Unfortunately it did not use them properly. After the shortfall of roughly $10.5 million was discovered in the trust accounts in May 2025, that brokerage was allowed to transact another $700 million in deals before it was shut down, without anyone being held to account.
In my view this has to be solved structurally in the end. By that I mean a genuinely independent body, for example one attached to the Ontario government, should supervise part of the audit process. Others argue it should be a non-governmental, independent body with no interest at all in this market. Part of the problem seems to be that the people who were supposed to be audited were part of the supervisory system, and that conflict of interest creates exactly this kind of failure. I hope the people who lost money get what they are owed and that the oversight structure comes out of it stronger and more serious.
Ontario and the Big Banks Ended Work From Home
The second story from September 2025 comes out of the commercial market. The return to the office, in government offices and in the private sector, was getting more serious rather than staying symbolic.
The Ontario government announced that all of its employees had to be back in the office four days a week by September 2025, and five full days from 2026. Major Canadian banks including RBC, BMO and Scotiabank were applying the same policy. The era of working from home was ending.
Toronto's Commute Is Back, Its Sidewalks Are Not
Here is the number worth noting. Before the pandemic, Toronto had roughly 326,000 commuting trips a day. By late September 2025 average weekly office attendance was back up to about 78%.
The problem sits one layer below that. Office attendance had returned to pre-pandemic levels, but as of late September 2025 pedestrian traffic in downtown Toronto was still about 40% below 2019. Fewer lunches, fewer coffees, less shopping. That is the gap the government wants to close, so restaurants, cafes and shops downtown do not go under. Companies want the same thing for their own reasons: teams working together in person, a culture that actually forms, somewhat more oversight of the work, and access to staff that is far easier than it is with remote work.
What the Office Return Could Mean for Downtown Toronto Housing
This is commercial news, but I think it reaches the residential market as well. If all of the things I have mentioned push in the same direction and more people genuinely go back to their desks, demand to live in Toronto, and in downtown Toronto in particular, gets a nudge. My expectation as of September 2025 was that this would get more serious as 2026 began.
Remember too that every employee required to work from an office puts a large number of service workers back to work around them. This is a trend worth following to see what it produces. If you are weighing a downtown purchase or sale and want to talk it through, fill out the form at the bottom of this page or book a free consultation. Stay well and take care.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to iPro Realty in 2025?
In May 2025 the Real Estate Council of Ontario, RECO, found a shortfall of about $10.5 million in the trust accounts of iPro Realty, one of Ontario's largest brokerages, which had roughly 2,400 agents and 17 offices before its closure in May 2025. RECO ordered the brokerage closed and its accounts frozen, and by late September 2025 had gone to court to freeze the assets of iPro and its former directors.
Who oversees real estate trust accounts in Ontario?
The Real Estate Council of Ontario, RECO, is the regulator. The iPro Realty case, which began in May 2025, showed that RECO had sufficient supervisory tools but did not use them properly, allowing about $700 million in further deals after the roughly $10.5 million shortfall was found in the trust accounts in May 2025. That is the argument for genuinely independent oversight of the audit process.
Are Toronto workers back in the office?
Largely, yes. As of late September 2025, average weekly office attendance in Toronto was back to about 78%, against roughly 326,000 daily commuting trips before the pandemic. The Ontario government required four days a week by September 2025 and five full days from 2026, and banks including RBC, BMO and Scotiabank were applying the same policy. Downtown pedestrian traffic, though, was still about 40% below 2019 as of late September 2025.