Digitally Delivering New Construction: Standardization and Transparency

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At the International MLS Forum, industry leaders gathered to address one of the most pressing structural challenges facing organized real estate today: integrating new construction into the MLS ecosystem in a meaningful, standardized, and globally accessible way.

Moderated by Bill Fowler, MLS Strategic Advisor, and joined by Bill Gaul, CEO of Builders Update, and Eileen O’Driscoll, Broker/Owner of Century 21 Concept 100, the panel delivered a substantive discussion on housing inventory, data governance, and the role of standards in bridging long-standing gaps between builders and MLS organizations.

A Structural Housing Deficit

Across North America, housing supply remains critically constrained. Estimates indicate a deficit of several million homes between the United States and Canada combined. This shortage continues to drive price escalation, affordability challenges, and generational barriers to homeownership.

New construction is not simply an opportunity — it is a necessity.

However, despite its importance, new construction inventory has historically remained peripheral within many MLS systems. As Bill Fowler noted, MLS platforms were designed around resale inventory. New construction often does not conform to the same listing lifecycle, status definitions, or data expectations.

The result is inconsistency, ambiguity, and hesitation.

The Standardization Challenge

Unlike resale properties, new construction listings raise structural questions:

• At what stage does a property qualify as an active listing?

• How should pre-construction phases be represented?

• What fields are essential for transparency?

• How do varying builder business models align with MLS governance?

Without defined standards, MLS organizations risk incorporating incomplete or inconsistent data. And as emphasized during the panel:

The MLS is not merely a database — it is the industry’s single source of truth.

Truth requires structure.
Structure requires standards.

RESO and the Path Toward Codification

A significant portion of the discussion centered on the role of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) and its Data Dictionary in addressing these challenges.

RESO has successfully standardized terminology and field definitions across markets, enabling interoperability, data sharing, and technological innovation. The expansion of the RESO Data Dictionary to more comprehensively include new construction fields represents a critical next step.

Bill Gaul, who chairs the New Construction Subcommittee within the RESO Data Dictionary, emphasized the importance of:

• Expanding structured fields specific to new construction

• Encouraging builders to contribute standardized data

• Reducing ambiguity in listing status definitions

• Facilitating global interoperability

By codifying new construction data elements, RESO enables MLS systems to incorporate this inventory without compromising governance or data integrity.

This is not simply a technology initiative — it is an infrastructure initiative for housing transparency.

The Practitioner Perspective

From the brokerage standpoint, Eileen O’Driscoll reinforced the operational implications.

Agents require verified, centralized information to serve consumers effectively. In many markets, buyers encounter new construction inventory online before agents have access to reliable data through the MLS. This creates inefficiencies and undermines confidence.

Education plays a pivotal role.

With over one million licensed professionals in North America, many trained primarily in resale transactions, the industry must provide:

• Clear compensation transparency

• Guidance on builder relationships

• Understanding of construction stages

• Insight into incentives and financing structures

• Accurate energy-efficiency and warranty data

As O’Driscoll noted, consumers are not seeking access alone — they are seeking professional wisdom. MLS systems, when supported by standardized new construction data, allow agents to deliver that guidance with authority.

Inventory, Incentives, and Market Realities

The panel also addressed an evolving market reality: in certain regions, new construction may now be more financially advantageous than resale due to builder incentives and interest-rate buy-down programs.

Yet without visibility in the MLS, this opportunity remains underutilized.

Standardized data fields and structured transparency empower agents to present new construction as a viable solution to inventory shortages and affordability concerns.

A Collaborative Responsibility

Successfully integrating new construction into the MLS environment requires collaboration among:

• Builders

• MLS executives

• Standards bodies

• Brokers

• Technology providers

The objective is not to force alignment but to create common denominators through structured data governance.

RESO provides the framework.
MLS organizations provide the enforcement.
Builders provide the inventory.
Agents deliver consumer representation.

Together, these stakeholders can bridge the longstanding divide between resale and new construction inventory.

Conclusion

The housing deficit demands systemic solutions. New construction cannot remain tangential to organized real estate.

Through RESO standardization, MLS governance, and industry-wide education, new construction can evolve from a fragmented, inconsistent category into a fully integrated, trusted, and globally accessible segment of MLS inventory.

The work is ongoing — but the foundation is being built.