Realtor Commission Fees Haven't Declined Despite NAR Settlement

New York, NY, April 28, 2025-"More than a year after a historic legal settlement promised to deliver seismic shifts to commission structures, homebuyers and sellers are still waiting to see changes that impact their wallets,” reports Morning Brew.

“A group of sellers accused the National Association of Realtors (NAR) of inflating home costs by letting buyer-side and seller-side agents discuss commission rates on the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) home database, which only agents can see. A jury agreed, so the NAR settled the lawsuit for $418 million in damages and barred agents from sharing commission rates on MLS databases-a huge change that was expected to extinguish the notoriously high 5% to 6% realtor fee in the US (global averages are 1% to 3%).

“As a result…the U.S. real estate industry braced for as much as a 30% drop in the estimated $100 billion Americans pay annually in commission fees. But the new rules have been a dud firecracker since taking effect in August:

• “It only took a matter of weeks really, for most agents to find a loophole,” one realtor told the New York Times, saying, “It’s almost a joke.” With commission discussions only banned from taking place on the NAR’s listing site, agents simply moved those conversations to phone, text, and email.
• Average commissions for buyers’ agents “barely budged” from Q3 to Q4, and ticked down less than 0.1% from a year earlier (e.g., $415 on a $415,000 home), per Redfin.
• Agents are pressuring sellers to continue offering 5% to 6% commission. Fifteen buyers and sellers told the NYT that they were boxed out when they tried to negotiate lower rates or go agentless.

“Housing experts predicted that commission declines would happen slowly, and progress may be getting held up by tight inventory. Buyers without agents have struggled to compete in high-demand areas, especially since listing agents tend to prefer working with represented buyers.”