Time on the Market: The Impact of Residential Brokerage

This paper examines the impact of brokers, brokerage firms and marketing strategy on time on the market (TOM) in the residential housing market. Using a duration model methodology, the study finds duration dependence to be positive, suggesting that the probability of sale increases with TOM. Pricing-related marketing strategies are found to strongly influence TOM, but individual agent and firm characteristics are not statistically significant. These results are consistent with an efficient market within a multiple listing service—no group of agents or firms appears to possess special advantages enabling them to sell homes more quickly than their rivals.