There is a growing trend by some real estate brokerages to guide sellers toward listing their homes on private networks rather than on the Multiple Listing Service. That means those listings are visible only to buyers working with agents within those brokerages. The data in this post is from a January 2025 Zillow/Harris Poll survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers about their familiarity with private listing networks, implications on a listing and their preferences about where to list and search for homes.

Knowledge of the Multiple Listing Service

While older Americans are more likely to be familiar with the Multiple Listing Service (ages 55+ vs. ages 18-54), they are less likely to know exactly what the terms private listing network (ages 65+ vs. ages 18-44) or dual agency (ages 55+ vs. ages 18-44) are. 

Private Listing Network Use

More than two thirds of Americans who have worked with a real estate agent (68%) say an agent has not explained to them the difference between listing on the MLS versus listing on a private listing network. However, 63% of those who have sold a home within the past five years say their agent recommended listing on a private listing network. That’s compared to 18% for those who sold more than five years ago.

A significantly higher share of Hispanic (74%) and Black (73%) home sellers who used an agent to list a home say their agent recommended listing on a private listing network than did white home sellers (24%). 

At least part of that discrepancy is likely explained by Hispanic and Black home sellers being more likely than white home sellers to have sold in the past five years. Of Americans who had ever sold a home, about seven in 10 Hispanic (69%) and Black (72%) sellers had done so in the past five years, compared to 32% of white sellers who said the same. 

Overall, more than two in five home sellers who say their agent recommended listing on a private listing network (43%) say they initially did so, but ended up switching to the MLS. That is compared to 35% who listed on a private listing network and did not switch, and 20% who listed on the MLS to begin with. Additionally, white home sellers whose agent recommended listing on the PLN are more than twice as likely as their Hispanic counterparts to say they instead listed on the MLS (26% vs. 12%).

* low base size (n=91); results should be interpreted as qualitative and directional in nature

Attitudes Toward Private Listing Networks

More than four in five Americans (81%) say if they were selling a home it would be important to them that their home listing is viewable for free to the public on a consumer real estate website, such as Zillow and Redfin. White Americans are more likely than both Black and Hispanic Americans to share this sentiment (85% vs. 76% and 71%, respectively).

When asked whether viewing all for-sale home listings should be free for home shoppers, 86% of Americans agreed it should. About four in five Americans (81%) believe a bidding war is more likely to occur on a for-sale listing if more shoppers can view it, while 73% agreed that limiting access to for-sale home listings only to certain subsets of shoppers could lead to discrimination.

Preferences on How to List a Home for Sale

Americans are split on where they prefer their home to be listed. If they were selling a home they owned, 39% say they would prefer to have it listed on a consumer real estate website, such as Zillow or Redfin, 31% say they would prefer to have it listed on a private listing network and 31% had no preference. 

When presented with research from Bright MLS that found homes listed on the MLS sell for 17.5% more than homes that are not, 44% of those who said they would prefer their home is listed on a private listing network say they would change their mind. Older Americans (ages 45+) who preferred listing on a PLN were less likely than those ages 18-34 to change their preference. 

Agent Qualities

If they were selling a home, the top factor Americans say is among the most important when choosing an agent is the agent’s ability to get their home in front of the largest pool of interested buyers (52%). Forty-five percent say one of the most important factors is the promise of the highest sale price, and 37% say the promise of closing the sale quickly. Only 21% say one of the most important factors is access to an exclusive buyer network.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Zillow from January 2 to 6, 2025 among 2,087 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, 1,232 of whom previously sold a home. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval.  For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact press@zillow.com.