HOUSING-MARKET CONDITIONS, LISTING CHOICE AND MLS MARKET SHARE

In some housing markets, a seller may hire a broker to multiple list o r exclusively list a property for sale or may bypass the brokerage ind ustry and list the property privately as a ''sale by owner.'' This art icle introduces a new model that illustrates the factors which will im pact on the broker's and seller's preferred type of listing. An implic ation of the model is that if the choice is available, sellers and rea l estate brokers will employ a multiple listing service more often dur ing slower market periods where the volume of sales is low and propert ies are more difficult to sell. An empirical analysis of Vancouver dat a yields results consistent with these arguments.