Better-informed sellers are raising the stakes for CMAs 

Real estate agents may be facing fewer listing opportunities in today's slower housing market, but a new survey suggests they're putting more emphasis than ever on a tool they use to win them: the comparative market analysis.

The 2026 Survey of Best Practices for CMAs & Listing Presentations, conducted by Giant Steps Advisors in partnership with Lone Wolf Technologies, surveyed 2,165 U.S. real estate professionals in 46 states between November 2025 and February 2026, comparing many of the findings with a similar survey conducted in 2020.

The findings, released today, come as the industry continues to grapple with a prolonged sales slowdown and more competition for fewer listings. Against that backdrop — and even with the rise in consumer access to AI valuation tools and pricing feedback — agents overwhelmingly believe CMAs are becoming more important. Nearly 90% of respondents said they expect CMAs to grow in relevance, up from 67% in 2020, representing the largest shift recorded by the survey.

More sellers pushing back on price due to unrealistic expectations

The survey suggests that one of the biggest hurdles for listing agents today is convincing sellers that their home may be worth less than they thought.

Nearly two-thirds (63.7%) of respondents identified pricing as the top seller objection during listing presentations, up significantly from 52.7% in 2020. Meanwhile, roughly a third of agents (33.6%) said disagreements over list price were the second most common reason they lost listings, just behind sellers choosing another agent (35.4%).

In the survey's open-ended responses, agents repeatedly said sellers pushed back on price because online valuations like the Zestimate were higher, or because they believed their home was worth more despite current market conditions. The biggest challenge with the CMA, several agents noted, is presenting the information in a way that sellers will accept.

Those findings align with broader market trends. As buyers have gained negotiating leverage, many sellers have struggled to adjust expectations shaped during the pandemic housing boom, when bidding wars and above-asking offers were the norm in many markets.

Preparation is becoming more deliberate

As pricing conversations become trickier, agents appear to be doing more prep work in advance.

Nearly 48% of respondents said they now prepare their CMA at least a day before the listing presentation, compared with 35.3% in 2020. They are also more selective about the comparable sales they include, with the average range of comps falling from between 5 and 11 in 2020 to 3.7 and 8.7 in 2026.

The open-ended responses suggest those changes reflect an emphasis on quality over quantity. Respondents frequently cited limited inventory, unique properties and the difficulty of making accurate adjustments for renovations or condition as challenges in preparing the CMA. Others said sellers can be overwhelmed by overly long reports with too many data points.

In-person presentations remain standard practice

One thing that hasn't changed significantly is how agents present the CMA, with three-quarters saying they still deliver the CMA during the listing appointment rather than sending it in advance, and more sharing it in person (76.4%) versus through email (54.4%). Just over half of the agents surveyed say they provide both printed and digital versions, about the same as in 2020. 

While 44.3% have conducted a virtual listing presentation — up from 29% during the pandemic — only about 10% of agents said they're very likely to do so in the next six months, suggesting remote presentations aren't preferred but are done mostly out of necessity.

AI is a useful tool, but 'pricing a home is a human act'

With the use of artificial intelligence tools now commonplace in agent workflows, questions about AI use were added to the latest survey. Most respondents (83.2%) said they're at least somewhat likely to use AI-assisted CMA tools, but mostly to speed up research, automate adjustment calculations and help write market summaries — not to replace their own pricing judgment.

"I think agents are telling us something important," Greg Robertson, co-founder of Giant Steps Advisors and author of "The Art of the CMA," said in response to the findings. 

"An algorithm can spit out a number, but pricing a home is a human act. It's local knowledge, judgment, and a conversation at the kitchen table," Robertson added. "The more automated estimates sellers bring to that table, the more valuable the human-crafted CMA becomes. AI doesn't replace it. It raises the stakes for it."