Off-market vs MLS
The difference between off-market and MLS is who is allowed to see the property. An MLS listing is advertised publicly to everyone at once. An off-market property is circulated privately to a shortlist of qualified buyers, with the address and often the price withheld until a buyer asks. In the GTA, roughly three quarters of commercial inventory trades off-market.
| Off-market | MLS listing | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees it | A shortlist of qualified buyers via broker networks | Everyone — public portals, agents, competitors |
| Address published | No — intersection level only until you request the file | Yes, in full |
| Price published | Often withheld (“price on request”) | Almost always published |
| Competition | Low — often a one-to-one negotiation | High — bidding is common on good assets |
| Seller privacy | Staff, tenants and competitors never find out | Public from day one |
| Speed | Fast when the buyer is ready | Set by the listing campaign timeline |
| Data available | Fewer public comparables; due diligence matters more | Full listing history and comparables |
| Share of GTA commercial inventory | Roughly three quarters | Roughly one quarter |
| Best for | Owners needing discretion; buyers wanting access before the market | Owners wanting maximum exposure; buyers wanting full transparency |
Which is better for a buyer?
MLS is better when you want maximum transparency and the widest choice. Everything is published, comparables are easy to check, and you can compare properties side by side without speaking to anyone.
Off-market is better when you want access before the market has it. You trade some transparency for far less competition, which in a tight asset class such as GTA industrial or employment land is frequently the difference between buying and being outbid. Serious buyers usually work both channels at once.
Which is better for a seller?
MLS is better when maximum exposure is the priority and privacy does not matter — a vacant building with no staff or tenants to unsettle, for example, where a competitive bidding process is likely to produce the best price.
Off-market is better when confidentiality has real commercial value: an operating business whose staff and customers should not know, a tenanted building where a public sale would create instability, or an owner who simply does not want their affairs visible. The cost is fewer competing bidders; the benefit is control over who knows and when.
Can a property be both?
Yes, and it commonly is — sequentially. Many owners test the private market first and only list publicly if a quiet sale does not produce the right buyer. This is why buyers with broker relationships see certain properties weeks or months before they appear on a portal, and why some never appear at all.
Does off-market mean a worse price for the seller?
Not necessarily. A public campaign maximises the number of bidders, which can push price up, but it also takes longer, costs more to run, and exposes the owner. A private process with a genuinely deep buyer network often reaches a comparable number with far less disruption.
The outcome depends almost entirely on the depth of the broker’s buyer list in that specific asset class. A private sale to the only two buyers a broker happens to know is a bad process; a private sale into a network of active, funded buyers is not.
How do I see off-market listings?
You cannot search for them, because they are not published anywhere. Access comes through a broker who is inside the networks where the inventory circulates. Our current off-market inventory is browsable here — anonymised by design, with the full file released on request.