Pocket Listings Can Boost Sale Prices — But Clear Cooperation May Have Killed The Edge, Study Finds

For years, real estate professionals have treated pocket listings as a trade-off: less exposure in exchange for convenience, privacy or control — and often, a lower price. Then, Compass came along with its three-phased marketing plan and turned that idea on its head suggesting that off-market listings have an advantage for sellers because buyers don’t see price reductions or extended time on market data.

eXp and other firms don’t agree with that premise and say that broad exposure through the MLS and other avenues, like Zillow Preview, that allow coming-soon listings but play by the local MLS’s rules, is the key to better transparency and is in the best interest of the consumer.

A new study comes in right in the middle of the fray.

In a preprint paper analyzing more than 700,000 home sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, researchers found that homes sold off-market — and entered into the MLS with zero days on market — commanded a 1.7% price premium compared to similar properties listed traditionally.

That finding runs counter to the core logic behind the MLS itself: that maximum exposure drives maximum price. Instead, the study argues that limiting exposure can actually strengthen a seller’s negotiating position.

But, is it true?

There is a catch. The paper focuses on one metro area, relies on zero-day MLS entries as a proxy for pocket sales and can’t directly test fair housing concerns or other exclusionary effects. 

But it does offer evidence that off-market strategies can generate real pricing advantages under certain conditions — and that regulation, such as NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy, can erode those returns without fully stamping out the practice.

The advantage: avoiding the “negotiation discount”

The paper confirms the value of pocket listings as protection from the public pricing process. A point of contention with many brokers and agents is that MLS listings, in most cases, undergo visible price cuts or extended days on market and that signals buyers to negotiate down. Pocket listings sidestep that entirely.

The limited scope study found that off-market homes were about 20% less likely to undergo a price reduction and achieved a 1.6% higher sale-to-list price ratio — nearly identical to the overall premium.

In practical terms, sellers weren’t necessarily getting more than their asking price — they were simply keeping more of it. At the same time, those deals closed faster, suggesting sellers weren’t trading time for price. Instead, the strategy appears to filter for high-intent buyers willing to pay for certainty and access.

Not only a luxury play 

In the past, pocket listings were often associated with high-end properties, but the study found they are used across price tiers. But the payoff is not evenly distributed.

For typical homes, the premium hovered around 1.7%. For luxury properties, it jumped to more than 8%, indicating that exclusivity carries more value when assets are unique and harder to price in a broad market.

That dynamic helps explain why pocket listings remain a niche strategy at the high end — but a highly profitable one when used.

Clear Cooperation didn’t stop pocket listings — it changed them

The study’s most consequential finding centers on what happened after the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy took effect in May 2020.

The rule was designed to curb private marketing by requiring listings to be entered into the MLS within one business day of public promotion.

It didn’t work in the way many expected.

According to the study, pocket listing activity did not decline after the policy was implemented. If anything, it ticked slightly higher, suggesting agents and brokerages adapted through office exclusives, coming-soon strategies or other workarounds.

While the behavior persisted, the economics didn’t.

Before Clear Cooperation, pocket listings carried a roughly 3.3% premium in the post-2016 sample. After the policy, that premium fell by about 73% to roughly 0.9% — a level that was no longer statistically significant.

In other words: The policy didn’t eliminate pocket listings — it eliminated most of their financial advantage.

What this means for brokers and agents

The findings land at the center of one of the industry’s most heated debates: whether private listings are a strategic tool or a threat to transparency and fair access.

This study suggests they can be both.

Before Clear Cooperation, pocket listings appear to have offered a measurable pricing advantage by reshaping how buyers and sellers negotiate. After the policy, that edge largely disappeared — even as the practice itself survived.

For brokerage leaders, that creates a more nuanced reality.

Pocket listings may still serve a purpose — privacy, control, pre-market price testing — but the data suggests they are no longer a reliable way to outperform the MLS on price.

As noted earlier, this study is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed, and it focuses on a single market. It also does not directly address fair housing concerns tied to off-market transactions.

Still, it adds a critical data point to a debate often driven more by opinion than evidence.

And it raises a question the industry is still trying to answer: If private listings no longer deliver a pricing advantage, what exactly are they for?