Pre-sale listings from Redfin and Compass International Holdings distributors are displayed as “Redfin Early Access” listings.
In the fight to give listing agents the option of pre-market listings, Redfin is tweaking the way it displays upcoming listings and other exclusive listings on its platform.
In February, the portal announced a major partnership that involved displaying exclusive listings of upcoming releases from Compass International Holdings’ agencies.
Now, it has announced plans to introduce portal-exclusive listings that are not available on competing search platforms. The company is calling the upcoming display “Redfin Early Access.”
The program is the latest development in the ongoing debate over when, where and how products are displayed, and marks an accelerating trend for multiple product search services and search portals to secure their own proprietary sources of inventory.
“Many homeowners want to sell, but aren’t ready to sell outright,” Jason Aleem, Redfin’s director of real estate services, said in a statement Monday. “Giving sellers more control over how they enter the market gives them more confidence.”
Redfin Early Access is a tool that allows the portal to differentiate between pre-sale listings from Redfin and Compass branded agents and upcoming listings seen from agents at all other brokerage firms.
After Redfin announced its partnership with Compass earlier this year, we started seeing upcoming listings in markets where that kind of pre-market syndication is possible. They should still be visible.
Redfin Early Access listings appear when website visitors use the Coming Soon filter on the platform. Additionally, elements such as a black emblem on the search map and an “early access” tag on the listing itself give it priority over other upcoming listings.
In the future, another filter will be released that will allow users to filter Redfin Early Access listings from Redfin and Compass agents, the company confirmed to Inman.
At this time, the filter does not include Compass Private Exclusive, the company told Inman.
“Redfin Early Access allows sellers to test the market before going all-in, while buyers get a first look at homes they won’t find on other leading sites,” Aleem said. “This is good for sellers, good for buyers, and good for a housing market that desperately needs inventory.”
The list includes icons specific to Redfin’s display to distinguish it from standard lists on the platform.
Redfin Early Access listings do not accumulate days on market or publicly display price history, the company said. Redfin added that this will allow listing agents to test pricing on behalf of their clients.
In conjunction with the announcement, the company said it conducted research that found sellers support the pre-sale listing option currently available on Redfin.
Research shows that 83% of people looking to sell a home are interested in pre-marketing their home. The survey was conducted in April and included responses from 1,000 U.S. homeowners.
Redfin said its research and research shows that offering sellers more options to go to market (including pre-market listings) can increase inventory for sale.
Email Taylor Anderson
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the status of upcoming listing syndicates in three markets.
