A fresh look at comparative market analysis (CMA) trends reveals rising adoption among U.S. real estate agents amid growing AI integration, according to a new industry study. The 2026 Survey of Best Practices for CMAs and Listing Presentations—a joint project by Giant Steps Advisors and Lone Wolf Technologies—polled 2,165 professionals between November 2025 and February 2026, capturing shifts in how agents leverage technology while maintaining hands-on expertise.
Growing Demand for Technology and Human Judgment
Nearly 90% of respondents, 89.6%, believe CMAs will become more relevant in the future, up from 67% in 2020. At the same time, 83.2% said they are very or somewhat likely to use AI-assisted CMA tools. Greg Robertson of Giant Steps Advisors, co-founder of W+R Studios which developed Cloud CMA, noted that the increasing availability of automated home valuations may explain why agents see greater value in a CMA.
Roberston highlighted that algorithms miss subtle details that affect home values. “I made a joke and said once, ‘Zillow can’t smell the cat,’” he said. “What does that mean? An algorithm can’t hear the dog bark next door. They can’t see the neighbor with the mattress in their yard. It takes a human being to do that.” Neighborhood conditions, renovations, and location details significantly influence what buyers are willing to pay, even when automated estimates suggest otherwise.
Trust in Multiple Listing Services Over Public Portals
The survey found that 90.8% of respondents trust the multiple listing service (MLS) above other sources for comparable-property information. Public portals, including Zillow, received less than 1% in the measure of the most trusted source. This preference highlights the ongoing importance of professional judgment in pricing homes, particularly in markets with limited comparable sales.
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Roughly two-thirds of agents identified pricing as the leading seller objection, up from 52.7% in 2020. Another 33.6% said they had lost a listing because they and the seller could not agree on the price. Meanwhile, 47.9% of respondents now prepare their CMAs at least one day before a listing presentation, compared with 35.3% in 2020.
Challenges in Finding Comparable Properties
Agents cited low inventory, unique properties, incomplete MLS data, and difficulty accounting for renovations as persistent challenges. The average maximum number of comps used in CMAs fell from 11 in 2020 to 8.7 in 2026, with the average minimum dropping from five to 3.7. In rural and slow-moving markets, respondents reported needing to expand their search radius or look further back in time to find usable sales.
Roberston emphasized that the decline in comp usage does not indicate less research but rather reflects market realities. “Research that I’ve done had about 50% of agents showing the listing price in their CMA, and about 50% would not because they wanted to have that conversation first,” he explained. “I realize some agents have a strategy of just showing comps, and then, hopefully, they can guide their seller to that and change their frame of mind.”
The CMA as a Persuasion Tool
Technology can identify trends in available data, but agents must still understand neighborhood factors and variables that matter to buyers. Robertson stressed the importance of preparation before meeting a prospective client. “You ask AI something, and then it’s like a Carfax,” he said. “It just puts all this data on a piece of paper or several pieces of paper…It takes a human being, and I think the right software, to have a narrative.”
