Off-market home sales have become one of the hottest topics in the housing industry. Do homes that sell off the market fetch a higher or lower price? Are all off-market listings “pocket listings”?
Compass often finds itself in the middle of this debate because its phased-marketing strategy lets sellers build interest in their homes and test pricing before launching publicly on a multiple listing service, or MLS. Some have conflated this approach with off-market selling, but the two are not the same.
Out of 55,498 Compass 3-Phased Marketing transactions in 2025, only 3,650 (6.6 percent) sold off the MLS. The remaining 93.4 percent proceeded to a public MLS launch.
So who is driving the off-MLS market?
Who makes up the off-MLS universe?
To better understand the key players in off-MLS home sales, Compass analyzed public records, MLS data (agent-assisted off-MLS sales often get added into the MLS after the fact) and existing research on the topic.
1. Wholesalers and cash-for-homes flippers (~25%)
You’ve likely seen those signs on street corners that say, “We Buy Houses 4 Cash! Call This Number!” We estimate these transactions make up approximately one-quarter of off-MLS sales. Sellers in this category typically prioritize speed and simplicity over top-dollar prices, wanting cash liquidity without repairing or staging the property.
Most of these transactions bypass the MLS entirely, as they usually arise when the seller contacts the buyer directly, or the buyer reaches out to the owner of a house that’s not currently for sale.
2. Pocket listings (~20%)
Pocket listings occur when a homeowner hires a real estate agent to represent them but chooses not to broadly market the home on the MLS initially (or ever). High-profile clients, celebrities and other sellers often choose this option to prioritize privacy and security.
When an agent sells a pocket listing, local regulations may require them to enter the sale details into the MLS after the contract closes for record-keeping purposes. However, if the agent does not report it to the MLS, the sale appears only in public county deed records.
3. For sale by owner or FSBO (~15%)
For-sale-by-owner (FSBO) transactions occur when homeowners sell their home directly without hiring an agent. Some FSBO sellers pay a flat fee to list on local MLS databases, while others remain completely off-MLS and are tracked only through recorded public deeds.
4. Other / unclassified (~40%)
The remaining ~40% of off-MLS sales represents a mix of non-standard property exchanges, such as intra-family transfers, estate settlements and private agreements. Because public deed records do not always specify whether a transaction was a traditional market sale or a private arrangement, these unclassified transactions make up a sizable portion of the off-MLS denominator.
The takeaway
Not all off-MLS home sales are created equal, and lumping them together can obscure important differences. For example, the typical off-MLS sale where an agent was involved had a close price of $413,000 in 2025, versus $305,000 for the typical off-MLS sale where there was no agent or the agent was unknown (this compares with a typical on-MLS close price of $385,000).
A homeowner who sells a property privately through an agent for privacy purposes is engaging in a fundamentally different transaction than one who, say, sells directly to an investor for cash. So before forming an opinion about off-MLS sales, it’s worth asking yourself which kind of sale you want to form an opinion about.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the contributor and separate from the Inman newsroom.
Jonah Coste is an economist at Compass International Holdings and previously served at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
