Over the previous three years, home sellers who sold to a buyer represented by the same agent lost a total of $1.49 billion, with private sellers losing almost the same amount—an estimated $1.36 billion.
The agent’s financial incentives may change when they represent both the buyer and the seller. While the potential expense of selling to a different buyer and dividing a fee with another agent is substantial, the additional commission received from raising a seller’s price is typically small. Instead of vigorously negotiating for the highest possible sale price, some agents may be encouraged by this dynamic to close a transaction with a buyer they represent.
Key Finfings:
- Home sellers in same-agent dual agency transactions — where one agent represented both buyer and seller — lost a combined $1.49 billion over three years, according to a new Zillow analysis.
- Home sellers who listed off the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) lost a combined $1.36 billion over three years, typically selling for 1.3% less than sellers who listed publicly.
- The price penalties from dual agency and off-MLS listings have appeared in every year Zillow has analyzed, showing a consistent pattern of harm.
Note: Dual-agency transactions were defined as having the same individual agent represent both the buyer and the seller.
In dual-agency sales, sellers were projected to have lost roughly $2,165 per home. California had the most aggregate dual-agency losses throughout the study period, with sellers in dual-agency transactions losing an estimated $533 million. Sellers in Florida lost $217 million, those in New York lost $146 million, and those in New Jersey lost $115 million.
Off-MLS listings follow the same process. Over the course of three years, sellers who choose not to list their properties on the Multiple Listing Service lost a total of $1.36 billion because they sold for 1.3% less than those who did. The average loss was about $4,230.
Sellers in the lower price tier suffered the most from the off-MLS pricing penalty, usually losing 2.2% when compared to sellers of comparable properties listed on the MLS. Additionally, the damage was distributed unevenly by neighborhood. Compared to 1.1% in neighborhoods with a majority of white residents, sellers in communities of color—neighborhoods where the majority of families are headed by persons of color—typically lost 1.9%.
Neither discovery seems to be a transient abnormality. The data included both price penalties for the whole 2023, 2024, and 2025 study years. This persistence is noteworthy because, over the study period, growing inventory has offered buyers more options and reduced the frequency of bidding battles, both of which would be expected to reduce the off-MLS penalty.
Note: In both sets —private listings and validated off-MLS transactions — Zillow excluded new construction homes, foreclosure sales, auction sales, non-arms-length transactions, bank/corporate/government acquisitions, invalid quitclaims and outlier sale prices (below $10,000 or above $10 million).
