What is a multiple listing service (MLS)?
A multiple listing service, or MLS, is a shared database where real estate agents post properties for sale and make them visible to other agents and, often, to public portals. It is the industry’s common source of truth for what is on the market.
Agents post properties for sale and make them visible to other agents and, often, to public portals.
Pooling listings gives every property wider exposure and every buyer a fuller view of the market.
Much of what you see on public property portals traces back to an MLS feed.
Accurate, well structured listing data matters because portals draw on the feed.
The idea is cooperation. By pooling listings, agents give every property wider exposure and every buyer a fuller view of the market than any single agent could offer alone.
Figure 1. Where MLS listings go
How listings move, as this article describes it: agents post properties to the MLS, member agents see the pooled listings, and much of the data flows out to public portals that buyers and renters use. Structure only.
Much of what you see on public property portals traces back to an MLS feed, which is why accurate, well structured listing data matters so much.
Sthenos builds real estate platforms that handle listing data at scale, like a property listing portal for a leading real estate company.
Is an MLS open to the public?
Access is mainly for member agents, but much of the data flows out to public listing portals that buyers and renters use.
Member agents
Direct access- Post properties for sale
- See listings from other agents
Buyers and renters
Mainly through portals- Much of the data flows out to public listing portals
- Those portals are what buyers and renters use
Related reading
Related terms:
Industry: Real Estate. Service: Custom Software Development Company.
