Dr. Xiaojin "Aaron" Sun, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Oklahoma State University's Spears School of Business, received an American Real Estate Society Best Article Award for 2025, one of the most prestigious honors in real estate scholarship.

Sun earned the recognition for his co-authored paper "The More, the Merrier: Agent Connectedness in Real Estate Trading Networks," published in the Journal of Real Estate Research. His co-author is Lily Shen of Clemson University's Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business.

The paper takes on a question most homeowners have probably wondered about but never had a research-backed answer to. Does it actually matter how well-connected your real estate agent is? The answer, it turns out, is yes.

"Agents who build broader, more diverse connections tend to perform better than those who repeatedly trade within the same small network," Sun said. "This project highlights how the structure of relationships shapes outcomes in real estate markets. I'm grateful to my coauthor and honored by this recognition."

Sun and Shen analyzed more than 40,000 residential transactions in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2010-17. They measured agent connectedness by tracking the number of distinct agents each listing agent had completed transactions with over the prior three years. Their most fully specified model found that a one-standard-deviation increase in connectedness translated to a 2.61% increase in sale price, roughly $1,100 more on a home at the sample average of $421,000, without adding a single day to the time the home spent on the market.

The driving mechanism behind all of it is information. Connected agents tend to price homes more accurately from the start, producing smaller gaps between listing prices and final sale prices. Their networks allow them to attract buyers efficiently, without relying on aggressive listing tactics.

The award comes as Spears Business deepens its commitment to real estate as an academic discipline. The school recently announced the launch of the Weidner Business and Real Estate Center, supported by a generous $10 million gift from Dean Weidner, chairman and founder of Weidner Apartment Homes. Spears Business also established the first bachelor's degree program in real estate and property management in Oklahoma.