Hive MLS CEO proposes stewardship principles for MLS future

Hive MLS CEO Daniel Jones has unveiled a proposed “MLS constitution” with nine stewardship principles meant to guide how listing services handle competition, data, cooperation and trust. The declaration lands as the industry debates private listings, AI, consolidation and the future role of MLSs.

Why it matters: - Hive MLS is trying to define a shared baseline for how Multiple Listing Services should function as the real estate marketplace changes. - The proposal aims to influence how MLSs think about stewardship, competition, public marketing, data governance and long-term trust. - The timing matters because MLS leaders are facing pressure from private listing strategies, AI, consolidation and questions about data ownership.

What happened: - Hive MLS CEO Daniel Jones authored a Declaration of MLS Stewardship Principles, which he describes as a proposed “MLS constitution.” - The declaration sets out nine principles meant to apply across different ownership structures, governance models, markets and technologies. - Hive MLS published the complete declaration online and is inviting industry members to read it and support it. - Supporters can use the “Sign and Support” feature and receive a PDF copy after submitting the form. - The declaration is available at Read the Declaration.

The details: - The declaration says an MLS is the steward of a nimble and trusted real estate marketplace. - The principles focus on stewardship of the marketplace, information, standards, trust, the opportunity to compete, data cooperation, the boundary between the cooperative marketplace and public marketing, innovation and sustainable operations, and local market knowledge. - One core principle says the MLS “does not own the marketplace. It stewards it.” - The declaration says policies and business practices should be judged by whether they strengthen the marketplace the MLS is responsible for protecting. - It draws a line between cooperative infrastructure and public marketing. - The declaration says brokers handle public marketing decisions while the MLS provides the infrastructure through which brokers cooperate on behalf of buyers and sellers. - Another principle says brokers should compete through a shared infrastructure with access to the same information and consistent rules. - The declaration’s conclusion on competition is: “The MLS does not level outcomes. It levels the field.” - The declaration says it is not a federation proposal, consolidation effort, strategy for a single MLS, anti-NAR initiative, technology platform or prescription for how any MLS should operate. - Hive MLS says the document is meant as “a common foundation any MLS can stand on.” - The website also includes a companion story, “The Keeper of Mendota Meadows: The road nobody planned,” which Jones wrote as an allegory about cooperation, competition and stewardship. - Hive MLS says the story is intended to help explain why those themes remain central to the MLS model. - Jones said the declaration is meant to start a much larger conversation as the marketplace, technology, business models and MLS organizations continue to change.

Between the lines: - The declaration is a response to an industry moment in which the MLS model itself is being tested by new business models and new technology. - By framing MLSs as stewards rather than owners, the proposal pushes a governance-first view of the marketplace. - The emphasis on cooperation plus competition suggests Jones wants to preserve the MLS’s role without turning it into a centralized control point. - Jones credited Michael Wurzer of FBS, Nicole Jensen of realMLS and Andrew Coca of sourceRE for shaping the idea. - Jones said Wurzer planted the seed for an MLS constitution, Jensen clarified why the issue matters and Coca helped shape the thinking around innovation, stewardship and data governance.

What’s next: - The declaration is likely to circulate as a discussion document heading into the Council of Multiple Listing Services event in Fort Lauderdale. - CMLS Open House 2026 runs Sept. 29-Oct. 1 and is expected to feature discussion of the future of the MLS, data governance, AI, consolidation and related industry changes. - Hive MLS is inviting more industry members to sign on and add their support as the conversation expands.

The bottom line: - Hive MLS is making a public bid to define the core responsibilities of an MLS before the market’s next wave of structural change.