The Conntrax Consortium and Clareity Consulting Associates, LLC, have released partial results of a study on the status of multiple listing services in North America
Part of the study is the result of a year-long market survey by Clareity Consulting which ranks the top 50 MLSs in size. To view the TOP50 MLS Study, Click Here.
"We're very excited about our newest research," says WB Freeman, Clareity's managing partner and founder of both Clareity and the Conntrex Consortium.
The release of the Top 50 MLSs marks a change from the firm's focus in the past. Freeman says that the firm's six-year annual survey "BIG100 MLS Survey" had "delivery methodology with too many underlying limitations to sustain its continued use." To be included in the top 50, MLSs must serve a minimum of 5,000 agents.
The TOP50 MLS Study is the first release in a four-part series, which will feature comprehensive profiles on as many as 700 MLS services. There are currently over 800 MLSs in the U.S. and Canada.
The TOP50 MLS Study also includes a section that evaluates change in the MLSs over the last four years. It is interesting to note, for example, that the number of agents in the top five MLSs has grown over 25 percent. MLSs with 5,000 agents or more have grown by 20 percent, according to the survey's findings.
"We've only begun to appreciate the research possibilities that can be realized through the application of Conntrex content," says Jennifer Noblitt, database analyst.
Clareity Consulting is a premier e-commerce consulting company that serves the real estate vertical with clients that include MLS information system service providers and major MLS organizations.
Conntrex Consortium collects, maintains and delivers directories that catalog essential B2B resources to the real estate industry. Some of its ongoing research includes the BigBroker Roster, which will provide comprehensive profiles on 5,000 of the top residential brokerages; the READ2003, a directory that offers facts on 1,700 Realtor boards and associations; the Conntrax MLS Review, which provides references on 650 MLSs, and the MLS Vendor Roster, a profile of system developers and automation service providers who work with MLS operations.
Says Freeman, "We have archived five years of fully integrated content in the databases specifically structured for maximum flexibility. It's exciting to work with a toolset when the applications are limited only by your imagination."
Published: June 16, 2003
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