Real estate agents' influence on housing search

This paper investigates different mechanisms for real estate agents' influence in housing search. Using residential listing data, I find descriptive evidence suggesting an important role of agents' influence in the listing stage, during which agents may influence home sellers to set lower initial listing prices. To quantify the impact of this mechanism, I develop a structural model for the home seller's problem particularly in the listing stage, while accounting for other mechanisms. The estimated model shows that agents' influence in the listing stage is consequential, explaining about 60% of the difference in sales price premiums between agent-owned and client-owned listings.