Historically, many of the country’s MLSs have not engaged in listing rental properties — currently, of the 554 MLSs in the country, none require rental listings, and only 374 include some rental property listings. However, a cooling of renters’ interest in typically high-dollar urban rental markets and the subsequent migration to traditionally lesser-priced areas outside the city areas has some MLS executives rethinking their platforms.
This dynamic, brought on in part by renters’ and homeowners’ concerns about COVID-19, has agents and brokers showing more interest in rental property as well.
The trend was discussed recently in a webinar featuring Jeff Bosch, Director of MLS Services, MARIS MLS; Melissa King, Vice President of MLS Services, Stellar MLS; and Cameron Paine, Vice President of Industry Relations, Apartments.com at CoStar Group, as part of the Inman Connect Now virtual event series.
In the video, King explains the proactive steps Stellar is taking to increase rental listings and awareness at Florida’s largest MLS. Bosch describes some of the challenges he’s seen both as an MLS executive and as a landlord in the industry’s efforts to create an accurate picture of rental listings.
This growing change in consumer expectations surrounding access to rental properties could leave some MLSs unable to provide their brokers and agents with consistent, accurate and reliable rental listings.
One significant benefit offered by Apartments.com is that brokers and agents are not charged for either listings or the leads that come in through the site. While Apartments.com has a growing number of data feed partnerships with MLSs, giving them a consistent and reliable platform for residential rental property listings, many brokers and agents still don’t utilize their MLSs for their rental listings, a missed opportunity that the current pandemic may be helping to underscore.
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