How Tech Is Giving Listing Services New Leverage Against Off-Market Sales

Written by:

Chris Caggiano

Date:

12 Dec 2025

KeyCrew Studio

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By tracking on- and off-market performance in real time, listing services can now give agents concrete evidence to guide clients weighing private sales against full public visibility.

Off-market listings have always existed, but the rise of private brokerage networks and pocket listings has pushed the trend into new territory. Some large businesses now encourage sellers to keep homes within private circles, suggesting they can find qualified buyers more quickly or discreetly without using the public listing system. That message has gained traction, and according to Zach Gorman, founder of RealReports, it has created a real challenge for the local and regional listing services that maintain the traditional marketplace.

That challenge isn’t just about competition – it’s about information. When a listing never enters the public system, it becomes difficult for consumers, agents, and listing services to understand how it performed. As private channels expand, the lack of visibility has made it harder for listing services to explain why public exposure still matters and what sellers risk by bypassing it.

Better Visibility

Gorman says the underlying obstacle has been a lack of visibility. Listing services haven’t been able to show how public sales compare with off-market ones because they haven’t had the infrastructure to track both in real time. Most rely on small teams focused on member support and compliance rather than analytics, leaving them without the systems needed to monitor off-market activity at scale.

That limited view has created a messaging gap. Listing services have long believed that public listings perform better, but they haven’t been able to demonstrate it with up-to-date numbers from their own markets. “They just haven’t had a way to monitor what’s happening off the public market,” Gorman says. “They know public exposure works, but they haven’t had the data to stand behind that argument.”

Closing the Gap

RealReports built Sightline to help address that challenge. The tool merges listing-service data with public-records information to give organizations a continuous view of both on- and off-market activity. It shows how many homes are being kept private, when they sell, and how prices compare month by month, information Gorman says many listing services have never had access to in a consistent or comprehensive form.

With that visibility, listing services can finally see broader patterns rather than isolated anecdotes. “We stitch all of the data together so they can finally see what’s going on and what it means, in real time,” Gorman explains. That includes tracking shifts in volume, monitoring how sellers respond to market conditions, and identifying moments when off-market activity spikes in ways that may affect pricing or fairness.

What Early Numbers Reveal

The clearest example so far comes from San Francisco, where RealReports piloted Sightline. Publicly listed homes there sold for an average of $300,000 more than off-market properties between 2022 and 2024, even after removing ultra-luxury sales that could skew the results. The difference amounts to roughly 19 percent, a gap that many sellers may not realize exists when they choose a private channel.

Gorman notes that this isn’t a minor or abstract distinction. It’s a measurable financial consequence for sellers who may believe private listings are “exclusive” or strategic. “If I lived in San Francisco and didn’t make that extra $300,000 because I went off-market,” he says, “I’d have a pretty big issue with that.” The finding also reinforces a long-held belief within listing services: broad exposure tends to deliver stronger outcomes, even in a competitive market.

A Changing Landscape

This shift comes at a moment when listing services face pressure from several directions. Large companies are expanding their private channels and promoting them aggressively, encouraging consumers to think of them as an equal alternative to the public listing system. That leaves buyers without a full picture of available homes and complicates efforts to maintain a transparent marketplace.

At the same time, the industry is dealing with high-profile commission lawsuits that have prompted new rules around representation and disclosure. Those cases have pushed the market toward greater clarity about the parties that agents represent and how fees are handled, creating a moment when consumers are scrutinizing the process more closely. Gorman says the choice between public and private listings “carries more weight than ever,” and listing services need reliable data to explain why the public route remains important.

Reentering the Conversation

Tools like Sightline also change how listing services participate in public and industry discussions. Instead of responding to claims made by companies with sizable marketing teams, listing services can now generate timely comparisons, produce localized evidence, and share clear explanations about how public exposure affects price and speed. For many organizations, this represents a shift from intuition to data-backed communication.

Gorman emphasizes that it’s not just about messaging – it’s about giving agents something concrete to show their clients. When a seller considers keeping a property off-market, agents can now point to fresh numbers rather than general wisdom or outdated assumptions. That’s especially important as commission transparency becomes a larger part of client conversations and sellers expect agents to justify their recommendations with evidence.

Greater Confidence

Together, these developments point toward a more assertive stance from the listing-service side of the industry. Gorman believes that better tools finally allow them to quantify what they’ve long understood: open visibility leads to better outcomes. That principle affects more than individual transactions – it shapes the fairness of the market, supports accurate price discovery, and helps consumers make informed decisions.

As more listing services adopt analytics like Sightline, the conversation around off-market sales may shift. Private channels aren’t disappearing, but the data now offers a counterweight to the exclusivity narrative. Sellers can understand the trade-offs more clearly. Agents can make firmer, evidence-based recommendations. And listing services can reassert the role they’ve always played – giving homes the broad exposure that helps them sell for what they’re actually worth.