According to the California Association of REALTORS, listing agents are now allowed to disclose the price of competing offers to potential buyer agents. This was previously a violation of the COE in California. In a dual agency situation, you are not allowed to disclose this information to the potential buyer.

My thoughts were that they are trying to drive the market back up. If a home was up for bid at an auction, you would know what other people are offering. Any other states allow this?

All do.

The Code of Ethics is a creation of the National Association of REALTORS.

The provision you are referencing was new this year.

Any idea why the change?

Is he saying that this is still against COE in a dual agency?

Are you talking about the following? (SOP 1-13 #5)

New Ethical Duty to Disclose
Non-Confidentiality of Offers
Beginning January 1, 2006, REALTORS® representing buyers have an ethical duty to advise their clients that sellers may not treat offers as confidential. More specifically, when entering into a buyer agreement, REALTORS® must advise potential clients of "the possibility that sellers or sellers' representatives may not treat the existence, terms, or conditions of offers as confidential unless confidentiality is required by law, regulation, or by any confidentiality agreement between the parties." As a point of clarification, California law generally does not require the existence, terms, or conditions of offers to be kept confidential by either a seller or a listing agent representing the seller exclusively. However, parties may voluntarily enter into a confidentiality agreement. For more information about the law surrounding offers, C.A.R. has a legal memorandum entitled Competitive Offers in a Hot Market -- Some Survival Tips. To help REALTORS® satisfy this new ethical duty, C.A.R. will revise its standard-form Buyer Broker Agreements and Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory (SBSA) to include the non-confidentiality disclosure. The revised standard forms are scheduled to be released in April 2006. This new ethical duty is set forth at Standard of Practice 1-13 of the NAR Code of Ethics.