General Overview

Triad MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is the primary real estate listing network for North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region. It was established in 1990 to facilitate cooperation among real estate professionals, providing a shared database of property listings and market information.

Triad MLS serves a 12-county area in the Piedmont Triad, including Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties. It also covers major cities like Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. The service is member-driven, meaning local REALTOR® associations (such as the Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem Regional Associations of REALTORS®) jointly participate in and support Triad MLS.

In purpose, Triad MLS acts as a central hub for property listings: real estate agents and brokers list homes for sale on the MLS so that other members can find them and share them with buyers. This cooperation ensures up-to-date, accurate listing data across the region. As of recent counts, Triad MLS has thousands of active listings (on the order of ~10,000 at a time) and a membership of over 7,000 real estate professionals.

By pooling listings, Triad MLS aims to deliver a “high-quality, cost-effective, and efficient exchange of real estate information” to help agents and their clients in a competitive market. For the public, Triad MLS offers a consumer-facing portal (TriadMLS dot com) where buyers can search for the most current homes for sale. This site is powered by the MLS data and maintained by the region’s REALTOR® associations.

Access and Subscription

Accessing Triad MLS requires a licensed real estate professional (typically a REALTOR®) and a subscription to the MLS through a member Association. Triad MLS is not an open public database for adding listings; only members (and their authorized assistants) can input listings and retrieve the full data.

Realtors in the Triad region usually join one of the local Associations of REALTORS® (such as the Greensboro Regional, Winston-Salem Regional, High Point Regional, or others in the 12-county area) which are shareholders or participants in Triad MLS. Once a Realtor joins an association and completes the MLS enrollment, they receive login credentials to the Triad MLS system.

Triad MLS runs on the Matrix platform (a web-based MLS software), which members can access securely via a browser login. Through Matrix, agents can search listings, enter new properties, and generate reports. Membership also comes with additional tools: ShowingTime for scheduling showings and a GoMLS mobile app for on-the-go access are provided as part of the MLS member benefits at no extra charge.

Subscription requirements include both joining the MLS and adhering to its rules.

New members typically pay initial fees and ongoing dues. For instance, one local schedule of Triad MLS fees outlines a one-time initiation fee of about $590 for new offices/members, plus monthly MLS dues of roughly $145 per office and $30 per agent using the MLS. (These fees cover the operation of the MLS and are often billed through the member’s Association or brokerage.)

In another example, the Greensboro Regional REALTORS® Association notes an “MLS Service” fee of $350 per half-year for each agent, around ~$58 per month. Overall, an agent can expect to pay on the order of a few hundred dollars per year for Triad MLS access, on top of their regular REALTOR® dues.

Offices that are new to the MLS may also have setup fees. As a condition of access, all subscribers must agree to the Triad MLS Rules and Regulations and compliance policies. This includes adhering to data accuracy standards and the code of ethics (for example, keeping listing information up-to-date and honoring any MLS-specific rules about sharing data).

In addition to agent-facing access, Triad MLS offers an IDX (Internet Data Exchange) feed for members who want to display MLS listings on their websites. To use the IDX feed, an agent or broker must be an MLS participant and usually sign an IDX agreement.

Triad MLS charges a small fee for IDX access—currently about $5 per month for an agent’s share of the IDX data feed. This fee allows the agent (or their chosen technology vendor) to access the MLS database and display listings on the agent’s website in compliance with MLS rules.

Many website providers integrate with Triad MLS via a RETS or RESO Web API feed once the agent has obtained the necessary permissions. The $5/month IDX fee is relatively low; it’s a cost set by Triad MLS to defray the expense of maintaining the data feed and is typically in addition to whatever the website service might charge.

Summary of how to access: A real estate professional must 1) join a REALTOR® association in the Triad region, 2) pay the required MLS subscription fees, and 3) receive login credentials to the Triad MLS Matrix system. From there, they can access Triad MLS online to search properties or input listings.

Consumers can access it via the public search on TriadMLS.com. For agents who want MLS data on their sites, an IDX subscription (with a nominal MLS fee and often a third-party IDX service) is the route to access Triad MLS data outside the Matrix platform. Overall, Triad MLS strives to keep the service cost-effective for members while ensuring only authorized, qualified professionals have full access to the listing database.

Market Data and Trends

Triad MLS data provides valuable insight into the Piedmont Triad housing market. In recent years, the region has experienced strong demand and rising home prices, though the pace of growth has moderated compared to the frenzied market of 2021–2022.

According to Triad MLS statistics, the median home price across the Triad area was around $255,000 in 2023, which marked roughly a 6.9% increase over the prior year. This continued appreciation reflects sustained buyer interest bolstered by the Triad’s relatively affordable prices and steady population growth.

By comparison, during the height of the market boom the year before, prices were jumping at double-digit rates—Triad MLS figures from early 2022 showed the median sale price for all homes up 17.5% year-over-year to about $248,000.

The cooldown from 17% annual price jumps to more modest single-digit growth indicates that while the market remained upward, it began stabilizing to a more sustainable pace in 2023.

One of the key stories in Triad real estate is the low inventory. For several years, the number of homes available for sale has not kept up with buyer demand. Triad MLS data in 2021–2022 revealed dramatic drops in active listings: inventory was down over 22% year-over-year for single-family homes (and nearly 28% down for townhomes/condos) in early 2022. Such a shortage of homes for sale created a competitive environment – buyers often faced multiple offers and sold quickly. In fact, at one point, the average time on the market for listings was as low as 4 days in the Triad (data from February 2022).

This means many homes went under contract almost as soon as they hit the market. By historical standards, a “balanced” real estate market might have 30–45 days on the market and several months of inventory, so the Triad’s conditions were extraordinarily tight.

More recently, market conditions have been robust but have eased slightly from those extremes. Realtors in the Triad have reported that rising interest rates and increasing prices tempered some buyer activity in late 2022 and 2023, allowing inventory to inch up in specific segments. For example, by 2023, months of supply in some local areas had improved to around 3 months (still a seller’s market, but higher than the 1–2 months in 2021).

Homes are no longer selling in mere days on average, but well-priced properties still tend to move within a few weeks. Owner-occupancy remains healthy – roughly 58% of households in the Triad’s major cities own their homes (42% rent) per recent data, indicating a solid base of homeowners.

In the future, Triad MLS trends will be influenced by local economic growth (the region is attracting new industries like automotive and aviation manufacturing) and by broader factors such as interest rates. However, overall, Triad MLS data shows a resilient market: prices trend upward modestly, and inventory that, while slowly improving, remains below pre-pandemic norms.

Buyers continue to watch Triad MLS listings closely, as quality homes in desirable areas can still sell quickly if priced right. Sellers benefit from the MLS’s broad exposure in a market where demand still exceeds supply.