Observable Agent Effort and Limits to Innovation in Residential Real Estate

Although agent effort is essential and a given in the residential brokerage market, it is difficult to observe and quantify. We estimate a simultaneous systems model using virtual tours as a proxy for observable agent effort. By studying a period during which a visible technological innovation (virtual tour) was introduced to the market, we are able to show relationships between agent effort, price, and time-on-market. Using the introduction to the market of visual tours to proxy agent effort, we find a positive effect on listing price, selling price, and time-on-market, with no significant effect on the commission rate. The effect is greater for lower-priced homes (3% positive effect) than for higher-priced homes (1.60% positive effect) and the effect is greater for larger brokerage firms versus smaller firms. A return to the agent possibly lower than the prospective cost of the innovation suggests agency costs at the transaction level that might limit innovation in the industry.