Wealthy families and family offices looking to sell high-end luxury properties are discovering that sometimes the best way to list them is to not list them at all.
Realtors who work with ultra-high-net-worth buyers and sellers of cottages and leisure homes say they’re seeing a significant growth in off-market and private transactions. These are sales that take place behind closed doors without the properties ever showing a For Sale sign or appearing on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) websites.
“At the moment, there are 28 exclusive listings trading quietly off-market on Lakes Muskoka, Joseph and Rosseau—the ‘Big Three’ in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country,” says Jack Janssen, a real estate agent who leads the Janssen Group at Chestnut Park realtors in Port Carling, Ont.
Sellers or buyers who opt to work with the non-listed property market are usually dealing with hard-to-find, high-end properties in the $8 million to $30 million range, he says.
“There’s something available that’s going for even more than $30 million right now in an exclusive listing, and there’s another showing coming up at $27 million,” Janssen adds. “But you can’t find any of that listing information on the Internet [or MLS], and nine out of 10 agents around here likely have no idea that these properties are available.
“These properties often move through quiet conversations between agents,” he says.
Private listings are handled within a single real estate agency office or in one-to-one contact between agents, explains Carrie Tait, a realtor with the Janssen Group. That approach limits the number of prospective buyers, but it also weeds out window shoppers who want to come to an open house to gawk at wealthy families’ pools, tennis courts and private gyms, she explains.
The CREA policy changes intended to push more listings onto MLS have had the opposite effect at the top end of the market.
Jack Janssen, the Janssen Group
The way for a would-be buyer or family office to find out what’s for sale is basically either to know someone in your circle who’s selling or to have an agent who knows about something within their own office that’s coming up, Janssen says.
“We just sold one that came up after a divorce,” he adds. “They didn’t want the news out anywhere, didn’t want the sale on the Internet, didn’t even want their friends or neighbours or work colleagues to know it was up for sale until the sale was over.” For agents, the downside is that they can’t boast about a big sale; on the other hand, they still get a lucrative commission.
“The rising interest in private transactions represents a growing desire among many wealthy families and family offices for more discretion and privacy than a public listing can provide,” Tait says.
Wealthy families opt for privacy to protect their personal lives from public scrutiny about their wealth, or when a property is changing hands to a new generation within a family at an agreed price and there’s no need to show it to outsiders. And privacy is especially valued in a regulatory environment that has been encouraging more transparency.
Tait explains that, ironically, the rising interest in off-market listings has come after the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) brought in new regulations in 2024 designed to limit how such exclusive listings can be marketed.
The rules require realtors to list a property on MLS within three days (72 hours) of any public marketing taking place, such as a “coming soon” sign or a social media post. The rule change aimed to prevent agents from hyping off-market homes or selling properties to in-the-know buyers before the broader public or other realtors could be in the loop to submit bids.
The upsurge in off-market transactions has come through an exception to the rules—a loophole that lets realtors till market-exclusive listings within their own offices or in one-to-one direct communications with other agents outside their offices.
People … are scared to put their property out on MLS because nobody knows price right now.
Helen Braithwaite, Chestnut Park Real Estate
“The policy recognizes not every seller wants their property to be advertised,” CREA said in a news release issued when the policy was brought in.
“The result is that there is a notable rise in private transactions among high-net-worth families,” Janssen says. Lower-priced and mid-market properties get listed, “but the CREA policy changes intended to push more listings onto MLS have had the opposite effect at the top end of the market.”
That might be true in super-elite parts of Muskoka, but realtors who work in other luxury markets in Canada say going private is not as much of a trend in their areas.
“It’s not that common here,” says Maggi Thornhill, an agent with Engel & Völkers in Whistler, B.C. “We’ve had some sellers seeking to go private, but it’s just because they thought they could get more money that way and in the end it didn’t make a difference.
Why not? “It didn’t matter because whether the listing is public or private, high-end buyers are hanging back right now,” she says. “The world is so volatile and uncertain, and they can afford to wait and see if the economy settles. So, whether it’s a private or a market sale doesn’t make much difference if properties aren’t moving.”
Price discovery—or fear of it—is another issue, at least in some areas.
“We do have a few off-market listings, but here it’s really people who are scared to put their property out on the MLS because nobody knows price right now,” says Helen Braithwaite, an agent with Chestnut Park Real Estate in Toronto who concentrates on properties in the city’s über-toney Rosedale and Forest Hill neighbourhoods.
“We’re in a changing market and they don’t want to set a price for the whole neighbourhood that makes them a sitting duck for other property sellers to set competitive prices,” Braithwaite adds. “So, a few people are floating a higher price off-market, and sometimes they’re in luck. But in this real estate market, you can’t guarantee that a private listing will boost your price.”
Still, Janssen says that for many in the luxe market, the possible benefits often outweigh those concerns. “Public MLS listings remain the right choice for most sellers under normal circumstances,” he acknowledges. “But for some people at the top of the market, off-market is a strategic option.”
David Israelson is a writer, editor, consultant and non-practising lawyer. He is principal of Eon Communications and Research, which he founded after more than a decade as a senior public relations executive. David contributes regularly to national and international print and online publications in addition to corporate and institutional writing across all media. He writes extensively on business, finance and investment, sustainability, conservation, energy, housing and land-use planning, international trade, travel and transportation politics and real estate, among other areas.
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