IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reesec/v43y2015i2p471-506.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of a Multiple Listing Service

Author

Listed:
  • Lingxiao Li
  • Abdullah Yavas

Abstract

type="main"> This article offers a theoretical investigation of the impact of a multiple listing service (MLS) and its optimal size. We study a principal-agent model of real estate brokerage with multiple agents, where the entry of new agents imposes externalities on the other agents. We solve simultaneously for the equilibrium and socially efficient levels of agents’ effort choices, the size of the MLS and the commission rate. Introducing an MLS reduces the number of agents, increases agents’ effort levels and improves total surplus. Current commission rates of 5–7% appear much higher than the competitive commission rate, leading to too many agents, too much effort by agents and a lower overall surplus. We also find that giving a greater portion of the commission to the selling agent increases effort levels, reduces the number of agents and improves total surplus.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingxiao Li & Abdullah Yavas, 2015. "The Impact of a Multiple Listing Service," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 43(2), pages 471-506, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reesec:v:43:y:2015:i:2:p:471-506
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/1540-6229.12076
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Randy I. Anderson & Robert Fok & Leonard V. Zumpano & Harold W. Elder, 1998. "Measuring the Efficiency of Residential Real Estate Brokerage Firms," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 16(2), pages 139-158.
    2. Rutherford, R.C. & Springer, T.M. & Yavas, A., 2005. "Conflicts between principals and agents: evidence from residential brokerage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 627-665, June.
    3. Munneke, Henry J & Yavas, Abdullah, 2001. "Incentives and Performance in Real Estate Brokerage," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 5-21, January.
    4. Arnott, Richard, 1989. "Housing Vacancies, Thin Markets, and Idiosyncratic Tastes," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 5-30, February.
    5. Mortensen, Dale T, 1982. "Property Rights and Efficiency in Mating, Racing, and Related Games," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 968-979, December.
    6. Thomas Miceli & Katherine Pancak & C. Sirmans, 2007. "Is the Compensation Model for Real Estate Brokers Obsolete?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 7-22, July.
    7. Sefton, Martin & Yavas, Abdullah, 1995. "The Welfare Effects of a Subsidy to Multiple Listing Services," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 85-90, July.
    8. Abdullah Yavas & Shiawee Yang, 1995. "The Strategic Role of Listing Price in Marketing Real Estate: Theory and Evidence," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 23(3), pages 347-368, September.
    9. Panle Jia Barwick & Parag A. Pathak, 2015. "The costs of free entry: an empirical study of real estate agents in Greater Boston," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(1), pages 103-145, March.
    10. Lynn Fisher & Abdullah Yavas, 2010. "A Case for Percentage Commission Contracts: The Impact of a “Race” Among Agents," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13, January.
    11. Arthur J. Hosios, 1990. "On The Efficiency of Matching and Related Models of Search and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(2), pages 279-298.
    12. Yavas Abdullah, 1995. "Can Brokerage Have an Equilibrium Selection Role?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 17-37, January.
    13. Bulow, Jeremy I & Geanakoplos, John D & Klemperer, Paul D, 1985. "Multimarket Oligopoly: Strategic Substitutes and Complements," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 488-511, June.
    14. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Can Free Entry Be Inefficient? Fixed Commissions and Social Waste in the Real Estate Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1076-1122, October.
    15. Chunchi Wu & Peter F. Colwell, 1986. "Equilibrium of Housing and Real Estate Brokerage Markets Under Uncertainty," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 14(1), pages 1-23, March.
    16. Anglin, Paul M & Arnott, Richard, 1991. "Residential Real Estate Brokerage as a Principal-Agent Problem," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 99-125, June.
    17. Bruce, Donald & Santore, Rudy, 2006. "On optimal real estate commissions," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 156-166, June.
    18. Yinger, John, 1981. "A Search Model of Real Estate Broker Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 591-605, September.
    19. Thomas J. Miceli, 1991. "The Multiple Listing Service, Commission Splits, and Broker Effort," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 19(4), pages 548-566, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peng Liu & Jia Xie, 2021. "Optimal Contract Design in Residential Brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 493-530, June.
    2. Jia Xie, 2022. "Importance of Professional Networks in Trade: Evidence from Real Estate Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 882-900, September.
    3. Lapuerta, Magín & Rodríguez-Fernández, José & García-Contreras, Reyes, 2015. "Effect of a glycerol-derived advanced biofuel –FAGE (fatty acid formal glycerol ester)– on the emissions of a diesel engine tested under the New European Driving Cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 568-579.
    4. Marcus T. Allen & William H. Dare & Lingxiao Li, 2018. "MLS Information Sharing Intensity and Housing Market Outcomes," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 297-313, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Lu & Strange, William C., 2015. "The Microstructure of Housing Markets," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 813-886, Elsevier.
    2. Peng Liu & Jia Xie, 2021. "Optimal Contract Design in Residential Brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 493-530, June.
    3. Zhaohui Li & Qiang Li & Hua Sun & Li Sun, 2022. "Diffused effort, asset heterogeneity, and real estate brokerage," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 707-742, September.
    4. Jonathan Wiley & Justin Benefield & Marcus Allen, 2014. "Cyclical Determinants of Brokerage Commission Rates," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 196-219, January.
    5. John D. Benjamin & G. Donald Jud & G. Stacy Sirmans, 2000. "What Do We Know About Real Estate Brokerage?," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 5-30.
    6. John D. Benjamin & G. Donald Jud & G. Stacy Sirmans, 2000. "Real Estate Brokerage and the Hosting Market: An Annotated Bibliography," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 20(1), pages 217-278.
    7. Lynn Fisher & Abdullah Yavas, 2010. "A Case for Percentage Commission Contracts: The Impact of a “Race” Among Agents," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Xun Bian & Bennie D. Waller & Abdullah Yavas, 2017. "Commission Splits in Real Estate Transactions," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 165-187, February.
    9. David Scofield & Jia Xie, 2023. "Network Formation and Effects: Observations from U.S. Commercial Real Estate Markets," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 487-504, February.
    10. Daniel Broxterman & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Information Frictions in Real Estate Markets: Recent Evidence and Issues," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 203-298, February.
    11. Vrinda Kadiyali & Jeffrey Prince & Daniel Simon, 2014. "Is Dual Agency in Real Estate a Cause for Concern?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 164-195, January.
    12. Jia Xie, 2022. "Importance of Professional Networks in Trade: Evidence from Real Estate Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 882-900, September.
    13. Ying Li & Abdullah Yavas, 2015. "Residential Brokerage in Hot and Cold Markets," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 1-21, July.
    14. Lu Han & William C. Strange, 2014. "Bidding Wars for Houses," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 1-32, March.
    15. Paul Anglin & Richard Arnott, 1999. "Are Brokers' Commission Rates on Home Sales Too High? A Conceptual Analysis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 27(4), pages 719-749, December.
    16. Thomas Miceli & Katherine Pancak & C. Sirmans, 2007. "Is the Compensation Model for Real Estate Brokers Obsolete?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 7-22, July.
    17. Xiangou Deng & Zhaohui Li & Michael J. Seiler & Hua Sun, 2024. "Market Strength and Brokerage Choice in Residential Housing," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 69(4), pages 741-777, November.
    18. Edward Rosenthal, 2011. "A Pricing Model for Residential Homes with Poisson Arrivals and a Sales Deadline," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 143-161, February.
    19. Luis A. Lopez, 2024. "Is there a Principal-Agency Problem with Real Estate Agents in Rental Markets?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 29-69, July.
    20. Luis Arturo Lopez, 2021. "Asymmetric information and personal affiliations in brokered housing transactions," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 459-492, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reesec:v:43:y:2015:i:2:p:471-506. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/areueea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.