East Hampton, NY—This year's housing market will be defined byoff-market deals. These deals are generally high-dollar residentialand commercial real estate properties that are not listed on anypublicly accessible source. In some instances, prospectivepurchasers may be required to sign a confidentiality agreement.Although this trend is prevalent among wealthier families in highnet-worth areas, it is increasingly becoming standard practice fortraditional homeowners and business owners.

"Owners are increasingly turning to brokers to facilitate dealswithout ever listing their properties," observes Noel Roberts, anagent for Nest Seekers International, an international real estatefirm. "A seller who already has their property listed with an agentwouldn't call them up and say, 'lets sell it off market.' But somesellers instinctively ask agents they are interviewing, 'Do youknow anyone who wants to buy my house?' instead of, 'can you listmy house?'"