Percent of Original List Price Received (POLP) is one of the most useful indicators for understanding how competitive a real estate market really is. It measures how much sellers are receiving compared to what they originally asked for, and it can reveal whether buyers or sellers have the upper hand at any given time—critical info for negotiating the purchase or sale of a home.
Let’s break down what POLP means, how it differs from similar metrics, and how to interpret what it’s showing in your local market.
TL;DR for Busy Agents:
- POLP, or Percent of Original List Price Received measures the closing price as a percentage of the original listing price. The average of these percentages is used to look at larger areas.
- A POLP at 100% typically means a balanced market. Sellers are getting what they ask without significant overbids or dropping their list price. But when sellers receive more than 100% of their original price, it means the market favors them. Conversely, less than 100% means the market leans towards buyers.
- What that says about a local market’s balance may depend on the readings of other metrics, such as Days on Market, Inventory, or Closed Sales.
Breaking Down the Metric
Key word: Original. POLP is calculated by dividing a home’s final sales price by its original list price, then averaging that number across all sold listings for a given month. Note that this doesn’t account for seller concessions, just the sale-to-original-list comparison. For InfoSparks users, this metric appears as “Pct of Original Price.”
That makes POLP distinct from the percent of last list price (also featured on InfoSparks), which uses the most recent asking price before a home sold.
Let’s look at an example:
- A home is originally listed for $500,000, later reduced to $450,000, and eventually sells for $400,000.
- Percent of last list price = $400,000 ÷ $450,000 = 89%
- Percent of original list price = $400,000 ÷ $500,000 = 80%
Both stats show how much the seller received relative to their asking price—but POLP captures the entire journey of the listing, including all price changes. That’s why our research department tends to focus on POLP: it tells the fuller story.
Why POLP Matters
POLP gives a quick read on market balance.
- When POLP is at or above 100%, homes are selling for full price or more, indicating a strong seller’s market.
- When POLP dips below 100%, it suggests buyers are negotiating discounts or sellers are adjusting prices to attract offers — a cooler or more balanced market.
Because POLP reflects how close homes are selling to their list prices, it’s one of the clearest indicators of competition and pricing power.
What POLP Trends Reveal: An Example
Let’s take a look at Inver Grove Heights, a suburb south of St. Paul, to see how POLP trends help tell the market’s story. We’ll look at the 12-month rolling average to get rid of the seasonal ups-and-downs.
- Early 2020: POLP hovered just below 100%, showing a fairly balanced market. Homes were selling close to their original list price, with only modest price cuts.
- 2021 to mid-2022: With record-low interest rates and intense demand, POLP climbed above 102%, meaning many homes sold over asking. Bidding wars and buyer urgency defined this period.
- Mid-2022 onward: As mortgage rates rose and affordability tightened, buyer competition cooled. By mid-2023, POLP slipped below 100% again. Sellers had to adjust pricing to attract buyers, signaling a market returning toward a new equilibrium.
This kind of trendline helps agents and clients see not just what’s happening now, but why—and where the market might be headed next. To get the full picture, it is best to view POLP alongside other key indicators like days on market (DOM), closed sales, and inventory. Together, they paint a more complete picture of demand, competition, and pricing strength.
Final Thoughts: How Agents and Buyers Can Use POLP
For agents, understanding POLP helps set pricing strategies and manage seller expectations—especially when advising whether to list aggressively or competitively. It is also a useful benchmark for estimating how much negotiating power a buyer may have.
The bottom line: POLP may seem like a simple ratio, but it tells a powerful story about how well homes are meeting the market—and whether that market favors buyers or sellers.
Bonus Data Dive: Median or Average?
Quick refresher:
- Average is the sum of all numbers divided by the count, good for symmetrical data but can be skewed by extreme highs/lows.
- Median is the middle number in a sorted list, representing the true midpoint but paints an incomplete data picture.
When analyzing POLP trends, we tend to use an average over the median, but differences between them tend to be small. That’s because this metric isn’t as skewed by outliers as others. Unlike sales price or days on market, POLP typically stays within a tighter range.
In InfoSparks, you’ll often see that the median and average POLP in the Twin Cities region differ by 1% or less, meaning either one gives a solid sense of where the market stands.