Definition
A Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a dataset created by real estate agents for the purpose of consolidating and sharing information about the home sale market. This data is locally collected by 500+ local networks of real estate agents across the country, which are then combined to create a national dataset of homes for sale/recently sold. The data is standardized and accessible through the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS). This data usually includes details such as the listing price, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage and other similar data points relevant to potential buyers.
Unlike most other data sources on HousingData.org, the MLS dataset is not created or published by the state or federal government. Instead, it is created by real estate agents and disseminated by data brokers. As such, homes that were sold without a real estate agent are not captured by the MLS dataset.
For more information about MLS, visit the National Association of Realtors site.
