As ‘whisper’ real estate listings rise, a clash over who controls the market

Navigating a market in which who you know matters.

Private or "whisper" listings are homes for sale that are not publicly posted on the MLS. Ally Rzesa Globe Staff/Adobe

January 30, 2026

7 minutes to read

Private — or “whisper” — listings are a practice in real estate often employed by the wealthiest homeowners and celebrities as a way to keep prying eyes off their exclusive and secluded enclaves when going to sell — just ask Tom Brady.

But the concept gained traction across a variety of price points in the Boston area and beyond in recent years, as more sellers looked for privacy around the price of their homes and to better navigate an increasingly competitive housing market.

“It takes the pressure off selling the house, and you’re not tied to having to officially drop the price if it’s on for two weeks and you don’t get any offers,” said Holly Mitton, a Danvers resident currently in the process of selling her 3,500-square-foot home in an off-market transaction. “I wasn’t concerned with selling it. I was more concerned it would get an offer, and I wouldn’t have anywhere to go.”

Mitton fits the profile of a logistics seller rather than the secrecy-seeking celebrity. Planning to buy a new home simultaneously, she feared the stale listing stigma, when a home sits on the market too long and invites lowball offers, and the prospect of selling her current home too quickly without a new one lined up. By testing the waters through a private community Facebook group, she found a buyer on her own timeline.

Holly Mitton is in the process of selling her 3,500-square-foot Danvers home in an off-market transaction. – Andrew Bruce real estate photography

But the concept of off-market and pocket listings isn’t always finding such fans. In fact, it’s being fought in the courtroom.

At the center of the battle is a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit filed by brokerage giant Compass against Zillow in mid-2025. The conflict erupted after Zillow implemented its “listing access standards,” a policy effectively banning agents from using its platform if they withhold listings. “Publicly marketed listings should be entered in the MLS within one business day and available to be published on Zillow as well as other sites that receive MLS feeds so it is viewable to all buyers and participants in the market,” Zillow writes.

The dispute exposed a fracture in how homes are sold in America. On one side, Zillow argues that “private exclusives” fracture the housing market, creating a velvet rope system where only insiders get access to inventory. On the other, brokerages like Compass argue the platform is penalizing homeowners who want to test the market without broadcasting their private information to the world.

According to Zillow’s data, homes sold off-market in the Greater Boston metro area sell for 3.8 percent less than those listed on the open market, an average loss of roughly $26,477 per seller. It is what Zillow labels one of the highest losses due to private listings in the nation, trailing only cities like San Diego and Los Angeles.

“You’re essentially leaving, on average, 3.8 percent of that sale price and just walking away from it when you sell off-market,” said Matt Kreamer, a spokesperson for Zillow.

Zillow contends that by limiting exposure, sellers eliminate the competition that drives bidding wars. But their concern extends beyond the seller’s wallet to the buyer’s access. Kreamer described a scenario where access to housing depends on who you know rather than what you can afford.

“You have to know the right agent with the right brokerage,” Kreamer said.

It can become a community word-of-mouth phenomenon that outsiders may find intimidating to infiltrate. But for buyers new to the cutthroat Boston market, navigating these private networks might actually be a survival strategy.

The house at 700 Sea St. in Quincy was listed privately, then as “coming soon” before being listed on the MLS and selling for $1.6 million.

Eric Johnson, a senior vice president at Compass, emphasized that private listings are not necessarily hidden from active buyers, provided they are working with a knowledgeable agent who knows how to check for “coming soon” inventory across brokerages. For a frustrated buyer tired of losing bidding wars on the open market, finding a home in the private phase can be a relief.

Johnson cited a recent client looking in the Stoughton and Dedham areas who had been battered by bidding war after bidding war for single-family homes. The agent was able to get the buyer into a private, exclusive listing that had previously failed to sell. They secured the home with inspection and mortgage contingencies intact, luxuries often waived in a public bidding war, and at a lower price.

“If the agent’s going to let us in and let us make an offer … that’s a better avenue for them to go in,” Johnson said.

Brokerages push back on the idea that they are hiding inventory. Instead, they frame private listings as a strategic soft launch, an initial phase in which a seller can test pricing and gather feedback before going live to the public.

Compass, which champions its “Private Exclusives” program, maintains that this phased approach creates better outcomes for sellers who want to avoid the days-on-market ticker that can stigmatize a listing if it doesn’t sell immediately. Supporters liken the strategy to luxury retail: Just because Chanel doesn’t sell its handbags on Amazon doesn’t mean they aren’t being marketed effectively.

Johnson argues that leverage is built before you go to the Multiple Listing Service, pointing to recent sales in which the private phase actually drove the price up, rather than suppressing it.

Johnson pointed to a recent sale of a waterfront home in Quincy at 700 Sea St. as a counter-narrative. The property had tenants in place and a narrow seasonal window to sell. By marketing it first as a private exclusive, the agent gathered feedback and eventually sold it for $1.63 million, above the seller’s target price between $1.55 million and $1.6 million, before it ever hit the broader MLS.

The buyer was brought by a non-Compass agent, defying the criticism that private listings are designed to keep commissions in-house.

By marketing it first as a private exclusive, the agent for this Quincy home gathered feedback and eventually sold it for $1.63 million, above the seller’s target price between $1.55 million and $1.6 million. – Property Precision

The buyer of the Quincy home was brought by a non-Compass agent, defying the criticism that private listings are designed to keep commissions in-house. – Property Precision

In another case on Strathmore Road in Brighton, Johnson noted that a seller used private feedback to reject initial low offers and adjust their positioning. When they finally did launch on the MLS, the property sold for $4.6 million — approximately $400,000 over the seller’s target.

“The MLS launch was the execution phase, not the discovery phase,” Johnson said.

The seller of this Brighton home used private feedback to reject initial low offers and adjust their positioning. – Property Precision

The property at 104-106 Strathmore Road in Brighton was first listed privately and then as “coming soon” before being launched on the MLS for $4.4 million. It sold for $4.6 million.

According to data from Compass, 94 percent of the firm’s private exclusives eventually go on to sell on the MLS. The goal, proponents argue, isn’t to keep the home secret forever, but to control the narrative until the property is ready for its close-up.

“We’re not trying to change the destination here,” Johnson said. “It’s just choosing a smarter on-ramp.”

Still, the rise of exclusive networks raises questions about equity in a state where housing inventory is already historically tight.

Zillow points to research from Chicago, where private listing data is tracked, showing that homes in majority-white neighborhoods were more than twice as likely to be listed privately than those in diverse neighborhoods. This “digital redlining,” as Zillow economist Orphe Divounguy called it, risks segregating the market by agent network.

Kristen Keegan, the 2026 President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, acknowledges that while private listings serve specific needs, such as for high-profile clients or sensitive situations, they fundamentally limit leverage.

“Reducing the competition by limiting that exposure is not going to drive the strongest price and terms,” Keegan said.

However, she noted the unfairness of a private listing can be a boon for the buyer who manages to find one.

“It can be better for a buyer seeing those private listings, because there aren’t as many other buyers looking,” Keegan added. “So, it can give the buyers more leverage and negotiation room. But for the seller, there’s not a big advantage other than that privacy aspect.”

Holly Mitton, a Danvers resident is in the process of selling her 3,500-square-foot home in an off-market transaction. – Andrew Bruce real estate photography

For Holly Mitton in Danvers, that trade-off — potentially a lower price for higher certainty — was a price she was willing to pay.

She admitted she and her agent discussed the possibility that she might be leaving money on the table by skipping the open market. But in a complex buy-sell timeline, the highest price wasn’t her only metric of success.

“If this aligns with the house we want to buy right now, to me it’s worth it,” Mitton said. “I definitely would do it again.”

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