The International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA) is a global alliance of leading national real estate organizations in the world's major markets. ICREA assists members of these national organizations by helping them efficiently and profitably facilitate cross-border business. ICREA also assists buyers and sellers in locating properties outside their country and in locating a real estate professional who abides by a code of ethics and can best meet their individual needs.

In August 1999, representatives from nine national associations* met to discuss the globalization issues facing their respective members. The outcome was a consensus that an international forum was needed where real estate associations could come together to share information, discuss the forces of a global economy, and facilitate their members’ international activities. Participants agreed that for meaningful transnational business to take place, international norms and standards were needed to govern the real estate profession globally. Another perceived need was a central Internet-based networking system that would link association Web sites, facilitate transnational referrals among association members, and provide ready access to foreign market information.

Subsequent meetings of this group resulted in the formation of an international consortium made up of the leading real estate associations serving national markets. In November 2000, 24 real estate associations signed a letter of commitment to the Consortium. After nearly two years of laying the foundation, 23 associations signed the formal agreement on May 13, 2001 in Washington, DC, officially launching the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA).¹

ICREA is structured around a series of rights and obligations based upon a multilateral agreement. This agreement binds member associations and, through them, the business entities and individuals that make up their membership, to a series of “basic commitments.” These basic commitments pertain to operation of a web site, sharing of core membership data through prescribed standards of electronic data transfer, enforcement of a code of ethics, and financial responsibility for its involvement in the Consortium.

These basic commitments, however, are just the framework for success. True success will be achieved when standards are applied to all transnational transactions undertaken by the real estate professionals represented by its member associations. A second order of standards and best practices are developed as “protocols.”

Protocols are subordinate agreements and member associations can choose which protocols, if any, to sign. However, to gain access to the processes, entitlements, and obligations embodied in a particular protocol, a member association must sign it, signifying agreement to be bound by its terms, rules and standards, and to provide its members the opportunity to voluntarily agree thereto.

www.worldproperties.com