MLS vs ACN: The Future Cooperation Model Malaysia Should Build
Introduction: The Crossroads of Cooperation
Imagine a Malaysian real-estate market where property data is accurate, commissions are fair, and agents cooperate seamlessly to find the right buyer for every home. This vision of a mature market hinges on one core principle: transparent co-broking, which turns competitors into collaborators.
The world offers two proven models to achieve this: America’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and China’s Agent Cooperation Network (ACN). Both pursue the same goal but were born from vastly different legal and cultural soils.
As Malaysia stands at this crossroads, the question isn’t whether to cooperate — it’s how. Should we import the century-old, legally enforced MLS, or adapt the tech-driven, agile ACN that powered Beike’s meteoric rise?
This isn’t an academic debate. It’s about choosing the right operating system for Malaysia’s property market.
1. The American Giant: Understanding the MLS
The Multiple Listing Service is more than a database; it’s a legal and cultural institution that has defined the U.S. housing market for over a century.
How It Works — The Rule of Law
- Exclusive Mandate: A seller signs an exclusive agreement with one broker, who becomes the sole authority for that listing.
- Mandatory Sharing: That broker must then share the listing with every other MLS member under predefined cooperation rules.
- Standardised Data: Listings follow strict formatting (such as the RESO Data Dictionary) to ensure consistency and comparability.
- Governance by Association: Local Realtor® boards under the National Association of Realtors (NAR) enforce compliance, backed by U.S. antitrust law.
In the U.S., the MLS operates under strong institutional muscle — legal, cultural, and professional.
In Malaysia, while BOVAEP (the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers) governs the profession, it lacks both the statutory framework and the cultural mandate to enforce mandatory data-sharing or cooperation akin to an MLS.
The MLS is therefore a top-down system, sustained by law and association power — a model Malaysia’s fragmented agency ecosystem is not yet equipped to support.
2. The Asian Disruptor: Understanding the ACN
China’s property market once mirrored Malaysia’s — fragmented, opaque, and dominated by handshake deals. The breakthrough came from Lianjia, which introduced a new framework called the Agent Cooperation Network (ACN). Later, its tech arm Beike (贝壳找房) scaled that model nationwide, becoming one of the world’s largest property platforms and listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
How It Works — The Rule of Tech
- Exclusive Stewardship: Each listing has a single accountable agent responsible for verification and documentation.
- Role-Based Cooperation: Others participate through defined roles — Sourcing Agent, Presenter, Closer, or Finance Assistant.
- Proof-Based Commission Splits: Every action is timestamped; commissions are automatically allocated by verified contribution.
- Cross-Brand Compatibility: Different agencies can collaborate on one verified listing without merging or losing identity.
The ACN is bottom-up and tech-driven. Instead of legal enforcement, it achieves trust through transparent data and digital evidence.
3. The Malaysian Reality: Why a Pure MLS Model Has Struggled
Malaysia has tried to imitate the MLS concept before — and failed. Each attempt fell to the same structural barriers:
- No Legal Compulsion: There’s no statute requiring exclusive listings or shared data.
- Cultural Resistance: Sellers still prefer open listings with multiple agents.
- Fragmented Industry: Thousands of agencies, each guarding their own inventory.
- Trust Deficit: Without timestamped verification, commission disputes are frequent.
In short, Malaysia’s market culture isn’t ready for the bureaucratic MLS model — but it’s already showing signs of something far more flexible.
4. The “Aha!” Moment — The ACN Blueprint Is Already Here → The 4-3-3 Formula
Here’s the twist: Malaysian agencies have already built their own version of ACN — they just call it something else.
In project sales (and increasingly subsales), commission-sharing structures like 4-3-3, 3-4-3, or 3-3-3-1 are common.
How It Works
- 4 (or first 3): The Lead Agent who sourced the buyer.
- 3: The Presenter who conducted the viewing.
- 3: The Closer who negotiated the deal.
- 1 (optional): The Financial Assistant who handled loan or documentation work.
This system is ACN in spirit and structure. Malaysian agencies have organically developed this model to solve the same problems of trust and fairness that ACN was designed to address. This “4-3-3” isn’t a deviation from ACN — it’s the local, proto-form of it. This isn’t just a commission split; it’s a primitive, yet effective, ACN protocol that has been running in plain sight.
The next leap is to recognise it, digitise it, and scale it — just as Beike evolved from a single-agency system to a national cooperation network.
5. The Verdict: Why ACN Is Malaysia’s Natural Evolution
Why It Fits
- Builds on Local Culture: Refines the 4-3-3 tradition instead of fighting it.
- Tech-First and Agile: Can be implemented immediately by progressive agencies and ERP platforms.
- Grows Organically: Mini-ACNs can form within firms and alliances, eventually linking together.
- Prepares for Law: A working ACN framework would provide the ideal foundation for future legislation.
A Word of Caution — The Risk of Single-Platform Dominance
The biggest risk of a tech-driven ACN is platform centralisation. If one dominant company controls the data and workflow — as Beike once did — it could become the industry’s gatekeeper.
Malaysia must chart a different course. The goal must be an open, federated ACN standard — a shared digital infrastructure, like a public utility, that any licensed agent can use without being locked into a single corporate platform. That ensures trust and benefits flow to the whole profession, not just to one tech giant.
6. From Blueprint to Practice — How ListingMine ERP Makes ACN Real
Malaysia doesn’t need to wait for regulation to begin. With ListingMine ERP, agencies can already structure their own ACN internally — no coding required.
ListingMine ERP is a no-code real-estate operating system that allows agencies to:
- Build custom commission rules (4-3-3, 3-3-3-1, or other ACN-style splits) without a single line of code.
- Generate timestamped audit trails that mirror Beike’s event-based proof system.
- Manage listings, leads, co-broking, and payouts in one transparent ERP environment.
In short, ListingMine ERP turns the ACN blueprint into an executable workflow. Every agency can run its own mini-ACN today — complete with verifiable records and automatic, rule-based commission splits. The firms that master this early will set the standard for Malaysia’s future national ACN framework.
Conclusion — Evolve, Don’t Import
The choice between MLS and ACN isn’t about which is superior — it’s about which fits Malaysia.
MLS is law-driven, centralised, and association-enforced.
ACN is tech-driven, decentralised, and culturally adaptable — yet grounded in exclusive accountability.
Malaysia doesn’t need to import a foreign system. It needs to name, nurture, and scale the cooperative spirit that already lives in its agencies.
The future of a transparent, professional, and efficient Malaysian property market will not be called an MLS.
It will be a Malaysian ACN — born from our own 4-3-3 spirit, powered by technology, and built for our unique market.
The blueprint is already here. It’s time to stop importing and start building our own future.
